


Draco Does It All Again: Fourth Year

by Emma_with_her_head_in_the_clouds



Series: Draco Does it All Again [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Gen, Good Draco Malfoy, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Protagonist Draco, Swearing, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:33:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 27,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25866736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emma_with_her_head_in_the_clouds/pseuds/Emma_with_her_head_in_the_clouds
Summary: Draco's in the fourth year of his second life. He's established himself as a good friend of Harry Potter, and has started making changes to the timeline. But now he's got to face the farce that is the "tri"-wizard tournament, and more importantly, has deaths to prevent, and a Dark Lord to stop from rising again. It's not going to be an easy year.
Series: Draco Does it All Again [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1342282
Comments: 275
Kudos: 384





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So we're back! Sorry it's been a bit longer than expected. I've been busy with work things. I'll try to keep updates fairly frequent, but please be patient with me.  
> We'll be starting the fic with a few chapters of fun adventures, before we get into the story proper.
> 
> As I've said before, if you spot typos etc, please point them out so I can fix them.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

So one of the first meet-ups of the summer ended up being the Muggle Attractions field trip. For a while it seemed like it wouldn't happen; the planning was fraught with difficulties.

First, Ron declared he didn't want to go if Nott was going. Draco told him that was fine, he didn't have to go, but that just made Ron more annoyed, and more determined to be part of a trip he wasn't actually all that interested in in the first place. Then Sirius announced that if Harry was going, he was too. Draco agreed, fine, he could come. Hermione's mother had already agreed to come and be their tour-guide, but having another adult there (even a man-child adult like Sirius) couldn't hurt. But Nott insisted that his Dad wouldn't approve of him going unless he had "appropriate" adult supervision AKA a Slytherin AKA one of Draco's parents (because Theo wasn't going to subject the Gryffindors to his Dad, even if he wasn't particularly fond of them). And no way was Draco bringing his father, and risking the man fucking up things with his friends, so Narcissa would have to come. Sirius whinged about that, but eventually agreed.

This was all before they even agreed where to go. Muggle London was agreed upon as a good area, as it would be easy to get to, and Hermione's Mum suggested lots of museums she thought they might like. After more bickering and argument (over many letters and floo calls), the shortlist was finally decided from, and an itinerary drawn up.

Another wrench was nearly thrown into the mix (to try and use one of the Muggle idioms Hermione had been teaching Draco) when Nott announced last minute that Zabini wanted to come too, but after some conflict resolution from Draco ( _"Merlin save anybody who continues to argue about this bloody trip…"_ ), the addition was ratified, and 9am on a Tuesday morning found Draco, his mother, Nott and Zabini (who had both flooed to Malfoy Manor to meet them there) waiting outside Kings Cross Station (a location chosen because they all knew how to find it) to meet the others. Hermione and her mother walked over to join them, having got off their train, and Sirius, Harry and Ron appeared shortly afterwards, having apparated into an alley around the corner (apparently Mrs Weasley had been apprehensive when Sirius insisted he could side-along apparate both Harry and Ron, but in the end had agreed to let him collect her son for the trip).

They started with the National Portrait Gallery, which for most of the group, was rather underwhelming. Draco didn't see how it was much different to half the paintings they saw at Hogwarts, except of course, these ones didn't move. Sirius looked bored stiff, and earnt himself a few glares from Narcissa (who actually seemed to be enjoying herself), and a scolding that he needed to "try acting like an adult for once and not a petulant child". Zabini, somehow, seemed to have a detailed knowledge of Renaissance era Muggle artists, and engaged Dr Granger in a quite in-depth discussion ( _Merlin forgive! Is he **flirting** with her!?)._

The next museum was, in Draco's (and in fact, most of the group's) opinion, an improvement. It was the Natural History Museum, and seemed to be stuffed full of skeletons of dead animals (Draco had already gathered that Muggles were weird).

"Is that a dragon!?" Ron yelled, pointing at one that was so large, it nearly touched the ceiling. "I thought Muggles didn't know about dragons!?"

"Shh, no..." Hermione whispered back, trying to shush him, "it's a dinosaur."

"A what?"

"A dinosaur." She looked around the group, half of which seemed to have no idea what she was talking about. "You don't know about dinosaurs?"

"No?" Ron replied, sounding like he was hoping it wasn't just him that was ignorant.

"They were a type of prehistoric lizard that went extinct millions of years ago."

"Millions!? But that's impossible!"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, surely the world's not millions of years old?"

"It is. Billions in fact."

"What? People, wizards and Muggles, have existed for billions of years?"

"No. Humans only evolved a few millions years ago. I don't really know enough about Wizarding history to know when wizards first appeared. I assume wizards must have evolved from humans? Or a common ancestor?"

On seeing almost the whole group looking confused/disbelieving at her, as they walked round the museum, Hermione went into a monologue explaining about the Theory of Evolution, assisted in places by her mother. It certainly was a dramatic theory. Draco wasn't sure if any of them that hadn't heard it before actually _believed_ her, but the whole group listened intently, even the adults.

Next, it was time for lunch. There was some debate on where to go. Zabini insisted he knew a 'delightful French place' a few streets away that they should visit, but Dr Granger looked uncertain about going with a group of teenagers, particularly if they didn't have a reservation. As they were walking down the street, looking at shops and restaurants, throwing about ideas, they passed what she declared was part of a chain.

"It's only fast food, and we don't usually go there often ourselves. But it is very popular with young people I believe, and this trip is about you experiencing Muggle culture." Draco turned to Harry, who seemed to recognise the logo of the place.

"I've never been myself," the boy explained. "The Dursley's never took me. But Dudley liked going with his friends. They serve like burgers and chips and things. I always wanted to try it."

"Then we'll try it!" Sirius declared, putting an arm protectively on his Godson's shoulder, looking fired up at the thought of yet another thing the Dursley's had made Harry miss out on. "McDonalds it is!"

Inside it seemed rather chaotic. Children ran amok. At the other side of the 'restaurant' there were slightly slapdash queues of people in front of a counter, behind which there appeared to be a kitchen.

"The menu's up there," Dr Granger pointed to boards above the counter, showing pictures of different foods. "We queue up at a counter and they take our order."

"They don't have table service?" Narcissa asked, sounding somewhat disapproving.

"No. You order and get your food there, then you either go sit at a table in the restaurant, or take your food and eat it elsewhere." She looked around the restaurant for empty tables. It was pretty busy. "Actually, it looks like it might be quite difficult to find a table, so perhaps we should eat out. There's a nice park not far from here."

After some difficulty (and some weird looks from the Muggle patrons of the establishment), the group left the restaurant in possession of multiple paper bags filled with burgers, chips (or 'fries', as the establishment insisted on referring to them as), and cups of 'fizzy drinks'. Draco was mildly underwhelmed by his burger, but though the chips were rather different to those he was used to at Hogwarts, they were fine for a change. He did find he quite enjoyed his fizzy beverage ('coke' Hermione referred to it as). He wondered why no Wizarding drinks seemed to be fizzy; it was an interesting gimmick, and surely one that could have been achieved easier with magic?

Once they were finished with their lunch, they headed to their third and final museum of the day. This one was called The Science Museum, and as the name suggested, it was about science, which seemed to be Muggles coming up with things in place of magic. It was probably the most educational museum of the trip (particularly if you didn't count Hermione's evolution monologue towards the bone one's educational credentials), and much of it was aimed at children, meaning the wizard educated amongst them could understand some of the concepts, despite not having been educated in science and Muggle matters. There were even parts of the museum that were hands on, where they could interact with exhibits and do things themselves.

Though the day had been a little dull at times, it had been enjoyable on the whole, and given Draco lots he could write about for his Muggle Studies project. He was ready to call the day a success when the group started to say their goodbyes in the exit to the museum. There were lots of brightly coloured pieces of paper in a rack, some with pictures on. Draco recognised one as being about the art museum they'd been to that morning.

"What's this?" he asked to Hermione, pointing it out.

"Oh, those are leaflets about other museums and tourist destinations. Places often have a rack of them, to advertise other places you can go." She picked up the leaflet he was gesturing to. "This one is about the National Portrait Gallery, where we went earlier. You might want to keep it, to help with your project."

"What's this?" Ron asked, picking up another leaflet.

"That appears to be advertising Alton Towers. It's a theme park."

"What's a theme park?"

"They have rides." At the blank look on his face she continued, "There's a few different ones. The big ones, like on that picture, are rollercoasters. They're, well... I guess a bit like being on an out of control broomstick, but on a train."

"Why didn't we go there!?"

"Alton Towers? I don't like rollercoasters. They make me feel sick."

"They sound awesome! Didn't you think that maybe _we_ might like them?" Ron turned towards Harry instead, "Harry, why didn't you tell us about them?"

"I didn't think. I've never been. I've only ever heard Dudley and the other kids at my primary school go on about them."

"Why haven't you been?" _Oh, for fucks sake Ron! Have you not learnt anything?_

"The Dursleys never took me." _How did Ron not know that was going to be the answer?_

"Would you _like_ to go Harry?" Sirius asked, having tuned into their conversation, and pulling the slightly psychotic face he pulled whenever anyone mentioned Harry's Muggle relatives (it was probably the man's ability to pull faces like that which contributed to people believing for a decade that the man was a mass-murderer).

"I don't mind," the boy replied diplomatically.

"If you want to go, just say, and we'll go," his Godfather insisted, trying to get an answer out of him.

"Er... yes please then?"

"Can I come?" Ron asked quietly, sounding like he _really_ wanted to come, but was nervous that he would be told he couldn't.

"Oh course! The more the merrier!" Sirius clapped the boy on the shoulder and beamed. His smile dropped slightly when he looked round and saw Draco stood with an eyebrow raised.

"Fine, Malfoy, and you can come too if you want," he added. The grateful look on Harry's face in response returned Sirius' smile somewhat.

There was a slight awkward silence (which Sirius was oblivious to), until Harry decided to address Zabini and Nott's looks of total disinterest (Draco was unsure how genuine they were).

"Erm... Theo, Blaise," [ _and didn't Harry sound awkward, calling them by their first names?_ ] "would you like to come too?"

"Well, we wouldn't wish to..." Nott started, only to be interrupted by Zabini.

"Why, thank you! Yes, we would love to come!" There was a look shared between the two of them (implying there would be a discussion later), but Nott plastered an agreeing smile onto his face.

"Well, I guess we'll write to sort out the details," Harry answered.

After that, they all finished their goodbyes, and headed off in the groups they arrived in. Before Nott and Zabini flooed away from Malfoy Manor, Draco pulled them aside.

"What are you two plotting?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Zabini asked, fake innocence on his face.

"Ingratiating yourselves in with my friends."

"Are you the only Slytherin allowed to befriend Gryffindors? I thought you wanted us to be nice to them?"

"Not at all, and yes. But I don't want you using them for your own ends."

"Like you are, you mean? Don't pretend you didn't start hanging out with them to make a statement, to paint yourself as a liberal," Nott argued.

"Whether or not that's true, they are my friends, I care for their wellbeing, and I don't want you two burning them with whatever scheme you're concocting."

"Your concerns are noted, Malfoy," Zabini simpered. "Do pass on our thanks once again to Narcissa. I guess we'll be seeing you again at this _theme park._ "


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, sorry this chapter's taken a long time. I've been busy. Plus this is a long chapter. Theoretically I should have split it, but I didn't really think it would be right dedicating multiple chapters to what is essentially a fun little tangent.
> 
> So, by popular demand, I present: the theme park trip!

Just like with the London outing, the theme park trip organisation ended up descending into much more chaos than expected. The point was raised that ideally there should be someone going who had been to a theme park before, if they wanted to reduce the risk of showing themselves up in front of Muggles, and Hermione was vetoing the idea of going herself. Harry briefly considered the idea he _could_ invite his cousin Dudley to go with him, but that was quickly rejected as a bad idea (because of the almost certain horror his aunt and uncle would have at the idea of their precious Duddykins being left alone with _that boy_ and a whole load of his _freaks_ , if nothing else). Draco was asked if he had any suggestions, but he pointed out, with his background, he didn't exactly have a large number of contacts with Muggle knowledge, apart from Harry and Hermione themselves.

In the end, it was Ron who came up with the not terrible idea of asking their fellow Gryffindors Dean and Seamus (who were Muggleborn and half-blood respectively) if they wanted to join them, in the hope at least one of the two might have been to a theme park before. But because they were inviting those two, it was argued that they'd best invite Neville too, as otherwise it might seem like they were snubbing him by leaving him out. Draco had to consider for a while whether since they were inviting all the Gryffindor boys in their year, they needed to do the same with the Slytherins, i.e. invite Crabbe and Goyle? (he decided that no, they didn't need too. After all, they weren't inviting the Ravenclaws or the Hufflepuffs. Or any females [except Hermione, who had rejected the invite]).

Dean and Seamus both seemed a bit sceptical of the invite, but accepted it regardless. However, Draco found himself recipient of a letter from Augusta Longbottom, with a whole load of demands and questions before she'd agree to Neville's involvement. Draco was a bit baffled why the letter had gone to him, and not Harry, or even Sirius, who at present seemed to be the lead (and only?) adult on the trip. Actually no. The letter made clear why it wasn't addressed to Sirius. It appeared Augusta did not consider Sirius Black to be suitable adult supervision for her only grandson (the words "man-child" were not used, but could be easily inferred).

This lead to a bit of a conundrum of who to take as "adult" supervision, as quite frankly Draco agreed that Black hardly fit that remit (not that he felt he himself required such). Narcissa had declined going, as had Lucius (not that Draco had ever specifically asked him in the first place). Seamus said his parents wouldn't want to come, and Dean said his mum would probably be at work (unless they went on a weekend, but apparently that would be a bad idea, because the park would be even busier). Draco couldn't really see Ron's parents wanting to go (or, well, maybe his dad would, but he got the sense Ron very much felt that wouldn't be a good idea, with his dad's weird obsession, but complete lack of understanding, of Muggle inventions). Nott's father was a definite no ( _I wonder if Theo's even going to tell him that he's off?_ ).

In the end, Sirius persuaded Lupin to join him, and Ron's older brothers Charlie and Bill (who were apparently both back in the country) said they'd come to. Considering Lupin was an ex-Professor, and Bill was "apparently vaguely capable" (he'd been a Head Boy when he was at Hogwarts, after all), Augusta reluctantly agreed to allow Neville to go. Zabini had announced that a "family friend" and his younger brother, who were both staying with him and his mother at their English estate at present, would be coming too, but Draco declined to mention this to the Longbottom matriarch, thinking it would be unlikely to advance his arguments.

Draco had been expecting this "family friend" of the Zabini's to be some old man Countess Zabini was trying to ensnare in marriage in order to add his fortune to her already sizeable one. But instead, Blaise and Theo were joined by two young men who fit the very stereotype of Mediterranean beauty, with their golden tans and perfect faces (and no doubt, chiseled bodies underneath their clothes, which were unremarkable, but fantastically chic). One was likely in his late teens, the second maybe mid twenties. _Damn, she's really treating herself this year..._

Rubens and Alonso (the Adonis' names) seemed nice, although quiet, and maybe a bit simple ( _you can't have everything_ ). They tagged along after Blaise happily for the day, seemingly comfortable following whatever the group wanted to do.

It had been decided everyone would meet just outside the entrance to the theme park. Draco was the first to arrive, having been apparated there by his mother. She stuck around until Sirius, Lupin, Harry and Neville arrived, pulling aside Sirius for a talk ( _who knows what that was about?_ ), before leaving, shooting the man one last glare (along the lines of 'look after him or else...'). Zabini, Nott, and the two mystery hunks were the next to arrive, followed by Finnegan and Thomas (who disembarked a Muggle bus!). Now it was just the Weasley's they were waiting for.

It was another five minutes when they spotted three ginger heads walking around the corner, their faces nearly as red as their hair.

"See, we're late!" Ron was complaining. "I still don't see why we had to floo, then walk all that way!"

"It's you that can't apparate," one of the older brothers explained (although Ron was nearly as tall as him).

"You could have side-alonged me."

"You know Mum doesn't like it when we do that. She thinks we'll end up splincing you," the other brother replied, with a fond smile to suggest he thought his mother was worrying over nothing.

"She wouldn't have to know!"

"Ron, you're not suggesting disobeying your mother are you? In front of us impressionable young people!?" Draco joked.

"Oh, push off Draco. Did you have to walk bloody miles to get here? Thought not."

"Well, we're all here now," Lupin interrupted diplomatically. "Shall we be going in?"

"Wait for us!" two more voices called out. They all turned around to see two more familiar faces (very red faces) dashing towards them.

"Fred, George!" one of the older Weasley brothers (Draco had the feeling this one was Bill, but he wasn't certain. He hadn't spent that much time around them in his first life, and this was their first meeting in this one) exclaimed. "What are you doing here!?"

"We decided we wanted to come to!" one of the twins replied. ( _Great. Am I going to spend my whole day trying to tell Weasleys apart? At least with Bill and Charlie I stand a chance, once someone introduces me to them_ ).

"We lost sight of you a couple of miles back," the other twin added. "I think we turned the wrong way at the crossroads. But we're here now."

"Does mum know you're here?"

"No. We just told her we were off out for the day, then followed you guys into the floo."

"Great. Well, you're taking the full blame when we get home."

"Fine," both twins replied in unison. They joined the group and followed them through the turnstiles (Sirius insisted that he would pay for everyone, demonstrating the apparently large amount of Muggle money he had taken out of Gringotts (it mainly seemed to be paper though, so Draco couldn't imagine it could be worth all that much).

They were given multiple maps of the park, with cartoon drawings of the rides etc on.

"No matter how much you intend to stick together, you inevitably end up getting separated on these kinds of trips," Dean started explaining. "People want to go on different rides, people get separated in the queue etc. So it's always a good idea to plan a meet-up time and place _before_ everyone gets lost." He pointed out a central area, with a drawing of a burger on. "The food plaza's always a good shout for a meeting place. How about we say we meet there around one for lunch?" There were multiple nods.

"But please, try not to get separated," Lupin begged the group, "I really don't want to have to face angry guardians to tell them we lost their children."

"...Misplaced..." Sirius mumbled. Lupin shot him a look back to suggest that comment wasn't helpful.

"At the very least, don't split off into groups of less than three."

"Actually, you're better off in even numbers. That way you always have a buddy to sit next to on rides."

"Four then. No going off in groups of less than four. Agreed?" There was a vague muttering of agreement. Looking around, it appeared no one had a problem with that rule, except Fred and George, who were probably hatching some kind of plan for mischief.

The group ended up dividing very quickly, when half of them wanted to make for the biggest rollercoaster in the park, but others looked uncertain. Sirius, Harry, Ron, Draco, Fred, George, Charlie, Bill, Dean and Seamus ended up heading for the rollercoaster whilst Lupin, Neville, Nott, Zabini, Rubens and Alonso went on some of the smaller rides first.

Hermione's description of a rollercoaster being like riding "on an out of control broomstick, but on a train", was surprisingly accurate (though the way she said it made that sound like a bad thing). When they got to the end of the ride, Draco felt exhilarated, and in total agreement when Ron suggested they line straight back up to go again. However, Dean and Seamus were less keen; Dean had been on the rollercoaster before when he'd visited the park previously, and wanted to move onto a different ride (particularly considering the length of the queue for this one). Bill and Charlie agreed to walk them back to see where the other group had got to, happy enough to explore other rides themselves. The remaining six of them went on the rollercoaster another two times, before agreeing they should try out some of the other rides too. After trying about a couple of smaller rollercoasters, they bumped into Neville, Charlie, Dean and Seamus in the queue for a ride that appeared to be a large boat that was suspended from the air and swinging side to side, and went to join them. Draco found this ride a little nauseating, but clearly not as much as Neville who was practically green by the end. Sirius apparently picked up on the fact he needed to step-up as an adult, and agreed to walk him back towards some of the seating they passed a short while ago. Harry also picked up on the strong vibes from Sirius that his Godfather didn't want to let him out of his sight today, and volunteered to go to. Draco said he'd join them; he felt like maybe he could appreciate a rest himself. Ron looked torn between going with his friends, or going on more rides, but Harry and Draco's reassurances that he should continue (and some egging on from Fred and George) soon saw him racing off with the rest of the group to find their next ride.

After they'd sat for a short while, and Neville looked less at risk of immediate projectile vomiting, they set off walking again, and ended up by a small lake, upon which was a series of what were apparently large swan shaped boats, which you powered by pushing these lumps ("pedals") around with your feet. They were hailed by Rubens and Alonso, who were passing by in one of these boats, and looking further out, Draco could spot Bill and Lupin, and Zabini and Nott too. He ended up in a boat with Neville, and they, Harry and Sirius, joined them on the water. Draco and Neville were probably the worst at it. It took Harry and Sirius a while to get going, but they were soon zooming around the lake. Bill and Lupin were travelling at a more leisurely pace, but at least seemed to have their boat under control; Draco's boat only seemed to want to go in circles, when it moved at all. Zabini and Nott were surprisingly good at it, but it was Alonso and Rubens who seemed to be the real stars (Draco suspected whether it was really even possible that the boat was just moving by muscle power alone, but they didn't appear to be using magic). Despite being rubbish at it, Draco and Neville enjoyed themselves, travelling in their lazy circles whilst everyone else zipped back and forth. Getting back to the shore to disembark was a bit of a difficulty, but they managed it in the end (assisted by Harry and Sirius "helpfully" ramming them with their own boat, to nudge them in the right direction).

After this, it was about time for lunch. The rest of the group was already waiting at the food court when they arrived. In the end, they decided to all eat in a burger restaurant themed around those 'dinosaur' creatures they'd learnt about on the London trip. The place seemed to be mainly marketed at children and families, but the food wasn't bad; Draco preferred it to McDonalds', and was pleased to find this restaurant did have table service (as well as fizzy drinks again).

Draco started the afternoon off going round with Harry, Ron and Sirius. They went on one of the smaller rollercoasters first, followed by a ride than spun around a lot (which was probably a mistake, straight after lunch). They went on a few more smaller rides for a bit, to try and let their food settle once more.

The next ride they went on seemed to be inside, and Draco wasn't sure what to expect as he sat down on the bench between Harry and Ron, and the park worker pulled down a bar across their laps. He tried looking down; clearly there was a drop, and presumably that would be the direction they would be going, but he couldn't see how far the drop went because of the darkness. The only reason they could see currently was because of the light coming from the corridor they'd queued down. When the Muggle worker was seemingly satisfied they were "safely" strapped in, he stepped back out into the corridor and shut the door behind him, leaving them in pitch darkness. Just as Draco was starting to wonder if anything was going to happen, suddenly they began to rocket downwards, in apparent free-fall. Draco would reluctantly admit he may have screamed, but he wasn't the only one. He could feel the self-preservation instincts of his magic fizzing away inside him. The ride began to decelerate, which may have been normal, but surely the mechanical crunching noises associated with it couldn't be.

They continued slowly down, until there was no further to go, and Draco could just about feel the ground if he stretched his feet. Bright lights came on, suddenly blinding him.

"We have detected some minor technical issues with this ride," a loud voice announced from all around them. "As a precaution, we will be evacuating the ride, and closing it for maintenance. Please could those on the ride remain in your seats. Colleagues will be with you to evacuate you shortly. Could those queuing for the ride please exit in an orderly manner the way you came in."

The four of them sat in silence for a few minutes, until a previously unnoticed door to the side of them opened and a woman in a brightly coloured vest appeared, encouraging them to follow her through a tunnel and back outside into the open air again. After some quick questions to check that they were okay, and some vague apologies, she let them off on their way.

They walked fairly aimlessly (their appetite for rides now being somewhat reduced), until they happened to bump into Lupin, Neville, Dean and Seamus.

"What happened?" Lupin asked, sounding slightly concerned, clearly picking up the tension in the group.

"The ride broke," Ron explained. "I'd not really thought about it, but I guess, without magic, Muggle machines break much easier."

"I think it may well have been because of magic that it broke," Draco countered.

"What?"

"I think I broke it," Harry admitted sheepishly. "I'm not quite sure what I did, and it didn't feel exactly like when I did accidental magic as a kid, but I think I did something."

"I'm pretty sure you weren't the only one," Draco reassured him. "I guess that we didn't consider that bringing a relatively large group of wizards to a place filled with complicated Muggle machinery might not be the greatest idea."

"Mum says I managed to break seven toasters when I was a kid, and looking back, I reckon that was through magic," Dean commented. "And Hogwarts totalled my Walkman." Draco wasn't entirely sure what those things were, but he assumed they were Muggle gadgets of some kind.

"Would it help if we split up?" Seamus suggested.

"Maybe. But I still don't think that's a good idea," Lupin suggested. "It's nearly time for us all to leave anyway. I think there's meant to be some games near the exit. Maybe those will be harder to break?"

Some of the games looked quite complex, with their brightly coloured screens displaying badly drawn moving pictures. Draco stayed away from them. Others seemed to just consist of shelves of what looked like Muggle money moving back and forth. Draco didn't get those either. He played a game with Harry and Ron, where they had to throw a ball throw a hoop to earn points, then watched as Dean demonstrated a machine where he controlled a claw thing to try and grab one of what seemed to be weird blue effigies of hedgehogs made out of a soft material. Dean had nearly got one of the blue monstrosities into what appeared to be the target, when it fell from the claw. Draco could have used wandless magic to nudge it into the target, but thought he'd best not risk using any more magic, lest they break something else.

Next they headed into the "gift shop", where they bumped into the other Weasleys on the trip. Fred and George were looking with interest at what was apparently a Muggle children's toy. Draco didn't pay much attention until he read the title on the box. 'Magic Set'. _What?_

"It's what Muggles do to pretend they have magic," one of the twins explained.

"We could have some proper fun with this!" declared the other.

"How are you going to buy it?" Ron asked. That sent the twins' faces crumpling.

"What's this?" Sirius asked, heading over. He was already holding a top with the theme park logo on, and what appeared to be a fluffy dinosaur effigy. Fred and George explained again.

"I'd like to see what you too get up to with that. You know what, give it here. I might as well buy that too. It'll be worth it for the chaos I have no doubt you too can cause."

"You don't have to..." one of the twins began, looking torn between his pride and his love of mischief.

"No, but I want to. Now, let's go buy these, before Moony sees and makes us put them back. Harry, have you decided what souvenir you want? Are you sure you don't want a matching T-shirt?"

"I don't need anything," the boy insisted.

"T-shirt it is then!" Sirius declared, snatching a smaller one from a nearby shelf. "We can match!"

They went through the checkout and gathered outside, Lupin shooting Sirius and exasperated look when he spotted his purchases. Just as they were starting to think they'd have to go look for Nott, Zabini, and Zabini's two... _friends(?)_ the group in question appeared, as if they'd been there the whole time.

All in all, it had been a fun day, even considering the broken ride incident.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ending up getting away from me a bit, with more and more characters ending up coming (there was nearly even more, but I decided to cut it back before the tangent grew any bigger). To be honest, I'm not even certain why Alonso and Rubens are there; they just kind of appeared on the page and I went with it (my writing of Blaise as a mysterious character seems to lead to even me not being sure what he's going to do next).  
> I don't know how precisely accurate this chapter is for theme parks in the 90s. I had a quick google to check places like Alton Towers existed, but decided not to specify which park they went to, so I wouldn't have to follow a list of what rides were there at that point.
> 
> Shout-out to all of you who commented saying you wanted them to visit a theme park, and particularly the person who suggested the drop-ride scene!
> 
> To win the chance to inspire a future tangent/minor plot point, can anyone tell me which film I was badly and niche-ly referencing, with their choice of lunch spot?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter's been so long coming! I was busy, then hit quite a writers block. I'm not 100% happy with this chapter, but to be quite honest, just want to get past it, so here we are.

Draco hadn't put much thought into his birthday this year, after his big party last year. He'd already had two trips out with his friends, so was thinking that would probably count as having celebrated it to a degree. He woke up to an enthusiastic greeting from Dobby and a large pile of presents. He didn't get a chance to open any of them, as Dobby was quickly chivvying him towards the dining room where apparently his parents wanted to eat breakfast with him.

His mother enthusiastically greeted him (well, as enthusiastic as Narcissa gets, which is still perfectly refined), and his father passed on his regards. Draco noted the man was wearing a pair of 'casual robes'.

"Are you not off into work today father?" he asked as he sat himself down at the dining table.

"No. I thought we'd spend the day together."

So after breakfast the two of them set out. They went for a walk near Stonehenge (avoiding the bit the Muggles know about). It had been years since Draco had been. Afterwards they went for lunch at a little restaurant Draco had always liked. He'd nearly forgotten about the place, and was quite touched that his father had remembered. It wasn't the fanciest of places, but the food was good, and the nostalgia factor was high.

In the evening they went to watch England vs. Transylvania in the Quidditch World Cup. Draco was a bit nervous about the idea at first. He'd been thinking over the events of this Summer first time round, and everything that had gone down at the final. But the only drama was the match itself; England were utterly thrashed 390 to ten, but after the match there wasn't a Death Eater in sight (well, technically that wasn't true; his father was there, and arguably you could consider Draco one too, but there was no Death Eater robes, no Dark Marks, and no violence).

All in all, it was a good day. Draco couldn't think of the last time he'd spent time just his father and him like this. It was nice.

He decided not to dwell on the foreboding future he knew was likely ahead during his birthday, allowing himself a day off to relax and enjoy the day, but the following morning he awoke with a sense of determination. He needed to plan. He'd spent enough of the summer having fun and building relationships. Now he needed to address the coming dangers.

The first major event he could think of was the Quidditch World Cup final. If events went as last time, Death Eaters (well, _"ex"-Death Eaters_ ) would decide to entertain themselves with a bit of Muggle torture, causing chaos and fear to spread through the campsite, made worse by a Dark Mark somehow appearing in the sky.

The ultimate plan would to stop this from occurring. However, this would be easier said than done. He didn't know who organised the Death Eater reunion. He didn't think it was his father. He couldn't be 100% certain, but he was pretty sure his father was involved last time, but from what he could recall, it didn't seem like he was part of the planning, merely opportunistically joining in (whether because the man truly wanted to, or feared the reaction from his " _friends"_ if he didn't, Draco wasn't sure). Therefore encouraging his father not to go wouldn't make a difference. It might make Draco feel better to know his dad wasn't involved, but that would be counteracted by the guilt of not being there himself and able to help his friends. Because that's the thing, he vaguely recalled running into Potter last time and making some kind of bigoted offhand remark about Granger. Nothing too bad must of happened to them, considering they'd arrived at school that September none the worse for wear, but Draco would still feel better being there in person to help them ( _who knows what differences his changes to the timeline could make after all?)_.

So in conclusion, he had no idea how to stop the Muggle-torture from occurring (he could try sending an anonymous warning to the Aurors, but his gut said that might just end up making things worse). Maybe he could try setting up some protective wardings around the Muggle campsite owner's house? That might make some difference?

As for the Dark Mark, all he knew about it was that it didn't seem to be one of the Muggle-baiters who cast it. He remembered his father seeming really freaked out about it. It would be interesting if he could find out who cast it (the information may always prove useful later).

Then after he got through the World Cup final, there was the farse that was the Triwizard tournament to think about. He never did find out for certain whether Potter had been lying when he said he didn't enter himself. Considering the ending of the whole blasted thing ended up being a trap to catch and use Potter somehow for the reviving of the Dark Lord, he had the feeling he might have been telling the truth. Regardless, Draco would be making sure Harry didn't get any silly ideas, and do his best to keep him from that death-trap of a tournament, which would probably be a good idea all round. He also needed to stop Cedric Diggory getting killed. He could just persuade him not to enter, but that would be easier said than done, and might just lead to someone else getting killed. More intervention would be needed to prevent a tragic outcome (Draco just wasn't sure what that was yet). And of course, the ultimate aim was to stop Voldemort rising again. If only he knew how it happened first time. All he knew was that it involved Harry, a graveyard, and Pettigrew losing an hand for some reason.

During the year he'd also have to watch out for Karkaroff- the man was an ex-Death Eater after all (Draco couldn't recall the man doing much except eventually getting himself killed, but it was good to be cautious). Moody was one he'd need to keep an eye on too. Draco hadn't liked the man, but had spent most of his original fourth year thinking that was just because the man was vindictive and anti-Slytherin, a vicious fighter for the light. But he recalled the man somehow being involved in the events at the end of the year, and not as good as he pretended to be? Draco wasn't sure what that was really about. Moody still seemed to apparently be a key member of the Order of the Phoenix after that, so surely he can't have been secretly working for Voldemort (he didn't think it was a Snape double-agent situation), but there'd definitely been some rumour?

All in all, Draco realised he didn't really have much of a plan of action for this forthcoming year ( _but then again, he hadn't really for the past three either had he?)._ Hopefully he'd be able to make it work.


	4. Chapter 4

Draco woke up early on the day of the Quidditch World Cup Final. He dressed in a dragon skin underlayer beneath a new set of robes he'd received for his birthday; after the success of Harry's dragon skin shirt last term, he'd decided that he, Harry, Hermione and Ron all needed dragon skin shirts _and_ under-trousers. He'd given Harry the trousers to match his top as part of his birthday present (Harry had celebrated the day by inviting Draco, Ron and Hermione over to the Black House), and had presented Ron and Hermione with theirs at the same time. Ron was very quick to try refusing, saying he didn't want charity. Draco was even quicker to rebuff him, pointing out that he was buying them as part of their birthday presents, but considering how Harry's shirt had likely saved his life, he couldn't justify holding off giving them their gifts until their birthdays came around. Ron had still looked conflicted, but accepted the gift.

Draco made sure his protective underlayer was fully covered by his robes before heading down to breakfast (he didn't want his parents spotting them and questioning him about them). They did comment on his outfit, but not in the way he expected.

"You look great darling, but apparently you're not to wear robes to the game, remember?" Mother told him. "It's one of those ridiculous Ministry rules. Insisting we all need to blend in with the Muggles. I don't see why it's necessary. Besides, half the population are so bad at it, they'll just end up standing out more. They shouldn't; it's really not hard, just an inconvenience. But people are idiots I suppose."

"You're right mother," (though Draco didn't specify which parts of that statement he was agreeing with). "I shall have to go change when I've eaten. I think I was excited to wear my new robes, it slipped my mind." ( _More accurately, excited to wear my new dragon skin underclothes_ ).

After he had eaten, he changed into a pair of black slacks and a dark green shirt (which he had to button up higher than he usually would to cover the dragon skin, but it still looked alright so hopefully no one would notice). He met his parents in the hall, ready to apparate to the World Cup Stadium. Mother was checking she had their tent and overnight things packed in her (magically expanded) handbag.

"Are you sure you want to camp?" she asked father, "it seems so... plebeian."

"It's part of the experience, darling," his father replied, "besides, it'll be a good bonding experience." She didn't look convinced. To be honest, Draco was a little surprised she was coming. For a while he'd thought it would just be him and father (though, thinking back, she had come last time too).

It was a lot busier at the World Cup campsite than it had been when they'd gone to the England match. He was glad he'd sneaked by to put up his protective wardings a few days ago (it had been busy then, and for a moment he had worried he would be caught, but if he'd attempted it now, there'd be no way he wouldn't be spotted). He subtly checked them as they walked near; he could still feel them, undamaged as of yet.

Draco and his parents walked around the vast site, occasionally stopping so Lucius could greet people he deemed worthy/necessary (mostly the well-to-do and Ministry higher-ups). Draco was glad they didn't stay talking to any of them for very long; it was at an age where they'd either still treat him as a child, or expect him to make small-talk like an adult (which, considering he didn't much want to converse with some of these people, was arguably worse).

Mother had been right in her comment earlier; a large number of wizards were _terrible_ at trying to dress muggle. The things some of them were wearing! There were a good number who were wearing items of clothing that clearly _were_ muggle, but any idiot could (well, should be able to) tell weren't appropriate in this context. Draco found himself looking through the crowds, trying to judge the worst-dressed (there were a lot of contenders for that crown).

After they'd been walking for around 20 minutes they spotted a congregation of red-haired people (that wasn't amongst the Irish supporters) which was likely (and indeed was) the Weasleys. Draco had somehow managed to persuade his parents that they should camp next door to his friends, so, with a sigh from Lucius, they headed over.

"Draco!" Hermione called out, from amongst the crowd of Weasleys, running over to greet him. The Weasley's, who all seemed to be sat round a campfire cooking their lunch, looked up at her shout. There was a mixture of reactions. Ron looked pleased to see him, calling out a greeting. Most of his siblings gave amicable enough looks his way. But the Weasley patriarch was glaring at Draco's father.

"Malfoy."

"Weasley," father replied with the slightest of nods of his head (an action Draco knew meant his father didn't like the man, but was trying to remain civil). What might possibly have descended into a staring contest was broken by Sirius Black poking his head out of the tent next door, and father switched his glare to him.

"Black."

"Lucius. Narcissa." Black raised an eyebrow, as if to challenge Draco's father into calling him out on breaking the adult's trend of referring to each other by surname. Lucius just raised an eyebrow back. The tension was ramping, only to be broken by Harry barrelling out of the tent, knocking into his Godfather with a mumbled apology. The serious tone of the moment was rather ended.

"Draco! You're here! We just arrived a short time ago ourselves."

"Whereas we had to get up before bloody dawn..." Ron started complaining.

The Weasleys' weird dislike of side-along apparation had led to them arriving by portkey (well, Arthur, Fred, George, Ron, Ginny and Hermione; Bill, Charlie and Percy had taken advantage of being old enough to apparate and set off long after their unfortunate younger siblings). Draco was wondering how the Weasley's had managed to get tickets for the match at all, and tickets for the top box at that? He remembered wondering that last time round (making some rather less than pleasant suggestions in his head), and was really quite curious. They'd never have been able to afford to buy the tickets. He really wanted to ask _how_ , but knew that would be rude. Luckily for Draco's curiosity, the question was later answered, to a certain extent. Mr Weasley had managed to get them from a Ministry colleague involved in the tournament organisation somehow (though the exact details were still fuzzy; did he _blackmail_ them or something? That sounded far too Slytherin behaviour for the man who was the least Slytherin in a distinctly non-Slytherin family).

There was little mystery how Harry and Sirius had managed to get Top Box tickets; Black was rich (plus rather famous, considering his infamous arrest and legendary acquittal).

Draco and his parents bought food from one of the many stalls there was around the campsite (the Weasley's had offered that they could eat with them, but Lucius was quick to refuse). Afterwards, Draco hung out with his friends for a while, whilst his parents went off so father could catch up with 'connections' (hopefully not Death Eater connections, but quite possibly). They went and bought some souvenirs for the match (arguably tacky tat, but it was arguably a once-in-a-lifetime event [well, for normal people, who weren't reliving the same lifetime]). His friends seemed to be supporting Ireland, but were also Krum fans, so if the match outcome was the same as last time, they'd probably be pleased. Ron mentioned that his twin brothers had put a bet on what sounded like pretty much the exact match outcome, so they might well be in for a windfall (but apparently they'd put it on with Ludo Bagman, and Draco was pretty sure he recalled rumours of the man being a bit shifty, so maybe not).

They met back up with everyone else at their tents (Draco's parents, the other Weasleys, and Sirius, who Draco had the sneaking suspicion had been following them around for most of the time anyway, continuing with his, well probably quite reasonable actually considering everything, paranoia about Harry's wellbeing). It was time for the match.

They climbed up all the way to the Top Box. Despite having seen it before, looking down at the humungous stadium, it was quite a mesmerising sight. Draco was distracted from his gazing by a sudden exclamation from Harry.

" _Dobby_?" his friend asked incredulously. Draco turned around. _What the fuck was his elf up to now!?_ Only to see that it wasn't in fact Dobby, it was a different House Elf who didn't even really look like Dobby. It wasn't even a male elf. Thinking back, Draco recalled there being an elf there last time, saving a seat for it's master or something.

"Did sir just call me Dobby?" the elf asked Harry.

"Sorry," Harry replied to the elf, looking a bit sheepish, "I just thought you were someone I knew."

"But I knows Dobby too, sir!" squeaked the elf. "My name is Winky, sir- and you, sir, you is surely Harry Potter!"

"Yeah, I am," Harry agreed. ( _Yeah, no shit..._ )

"But Dobby talks of you all the time, sir!" the elf continued to ramble, gazing up at Harry in awe. _'All the time'? What has Dobby been up to!?_

"How do you know Dobby?" Draco asked the elf, interrupting its worship of Harry.

"Elves have their ways, sir," the elf replied ( _vague and ominous as fuck_ ). It finally seemed to notice Draco now it had been distracted away from gazing at Harry. "You must be Master Draco. Dobby's mentioned you too." _So he talks about Harry 'all the time' but he's only 'mentioned' me?_ Draco would be offended, but quite frankly, wasn't too surprised. His elf had always had a weird obsession with Harry.

"Draco, come sit down!" father called, "The match will be starting soon." With that, Draco vaguely nodded goodbye to the elf and moved along to his seat.

It had ended up working out that most of the Weasleys were sat on the front row, with Narcissa, Lucius, Draco, Hermione, Ron, Harry and Sirius making up the second. The rest of the box was full of various Ministry bigwigs and international dignitaries. It made it seem even odder that there was this little island of Draco and his friends and their families. Father kept greeting different people (though with quite a few, he was pulling his face that meant he couldn't stand them, but had to be polite to them for appearances sake). The middle Weasley brother (Percy, Draco was pretty sure his name was), was going out of his way to try and get in with them all, and to be honest, was rather embarrassing himself with how much of a suck-up he was clearly being). At one point, Draco ended up being introduced to Fudge by his father, and in return, the man introduced them to the Bulgarian Minister for Magic, then tried introducing them to the Weasleys (the man seemed oblivious to the barely-suppressed tension between the two patriarchs). The man also mentioned father's recent _very generous_ contribution to St Mungo's, and announced how he was here as his guest ( _well, I guess that technically answers the question of how **we** got tickets_).

Any further awkward interactions were thankfully prevented by the start of the pre-match proceedings. Draco cursed himself for not remembering about the Veela, and quickly increased his occlumency (but it appeared his background occlumental state was sufficient, as he felt very little impact of the monsters, unlike his friends and half the guests in the box, who seemed to be all but wanting to throw themselves from it to try and get to them). Next came the Leprechauns, throwing their fake gold (again demonstrating the low intelligence of most of the crowd as they scrambled to catch it, as if they didn't know it would disappear later). Finally, the players came out and the match was able to begin.

He might have seen it before, and it might have ended with the exact same outcome, but Draco still thoroughly enjoyed watching it. He also found he enjoyed watching his friends watch the match, seeing their reactions as the game unfolded and as events he knew were coming took them by surprise. He had to admit, that Wronski Feint that Krum pulled off really was masterful play, and even though his catch of the snitch lost his team the game, it was still some supreme seeker skill to catch it at all.

All in all, it had been a great game, and the atmosphere in the stadium was vibrant as fans filtered out into the campsite to continue the fun. Draco hoped to Merlin that the mood would remain that way...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had to do a few re-writes on this chapter. First because I had Draco wearing robes, so then he had to change. But also because I hadn't realised Narcissa had attended too in the book until I got pretty much to the match itself, and decided I should go back and add her in too. Hopefully that's not left continuity errors etc. Please let me know if you spot any.
> 
> Arguably I've done the same sin as the movie, and skipped out pretty much the whole match. But to be fair, I'd just be copying the text from the book.  
> (There's already some direct quotes from the book in this chapter, such as in the conversation with Winky).


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter ended up being longer than I intended.  
> It took me a while to write it, partly because I was planning for future parts of the fic (I have quite a lot of it planned out, but realised that, with the plot changes I've got coming up, the logical conclusion of events was going to lead to Harry dying at the end of this year, so I had to think of a way around that before I wrote anything else).

After the match, Draco enthusiastically joined in with his friends analysing the match as they walked back to the campsite. They were still mid conversation as they arrived back at their tents, and reluctant to stop and go to bed. Sirius announced that they were more than welcome to come back into his and Harry's tent for a cocoa before heading to bed. In reply to a very desperate look from Ron, Mr Weasley agreed that Ron and Hermione could stay for 30 minutes before they needed to return to their tent and go to bed. Draco quickly glanced between his parents, contemplating which parent was more likely to let him stay. Mother looked more agreeable.

"Yes, you can stay with your friends for a while, as long as it's okay with Sirius," she told him. Sirius pulled a face that suggested he'd like to say it wasn't alright with him, but wasn't going to.

Forty minutes later, Bill Weasley poked his head into the Black tent, informing Ron and Hermione he'd been sent by his father to come fetch them. Hermione went happily, agreeing it was past time they went to bed (they'd all been yawning away), but Ron grumbled as he said goodnight and followed his brother out of the tent.

Draco hadn't been given a set time to head back, and was half thinking about leaving himself, but got distracted by Harry and a discussion of seeker techniques from the match. It must have been at least another 20 minutes when there was a knocking charm at the entrance of the tent. It was mother (who waited for Sirius to greet her, rather than letting herself in like Bill Weasley had; whether that was because she wanted to show off wizarding manners, or because she knew Sirius wouldn't be pleased if she just walked in, Draco wasn't certain. Probably both).

"Oh, sorry mother. I lost track of time. I hope I haven't kept you up?"

"It's no problem darling. Actually I just came by to let you know that I'm off home." Draco did a double take, looking at his mother in more detail. She was still perfectly coifed, and to those who didn't know her as well as Draco, she would look perfectly composed. But to Draco, it looked like she'd been upset. _Had she and father had an argument?_

"Are you alright?"

"Oh, yes, I'm fine. I just think it would be much nicer to sleep in my own bed. Camping really is not my kind of thing, I think."

"Do you want me to come too?"

"No, stay. Enjoy the experience. Your father has gone out to catch up with some of his friends, but hopefully he should be back soon." Draco's face fell somewhat more. He had suspicions what kind of _friends_ his father was catching up with.

"You can stay here with me until your father gets back, if you want?" Harry offered, perhaps thinking Draco was apprehensive at the idea of heading back to his tent on his own.

"You'll look after him?" Narcissa asked Sirius, who vaguely nodded. She steeled him a glare to say " _you'd better_ ", kissed Draco's forehead and took her leave.

Draco suddenly jerked awake, to find himself lying half sat-up on the sofa in the Black tent, Harry gently snoring away at his side. They must have fallen asleep. He remembered Sirius muttering he was heading to bed shortly after mother left, and half-heartedly offering to Draco that he could stay in the spare bed in Harry's room if he wanted. Clearly they hadn't made it to bed before dropping off (not that Draco had actually intended on staying; he'd planned on staying awake to confront his father when he either slunk back, or things escalated like last time). At first, Draco wasn't sure what had woken him up. Was it a nightmare? _No_. A scream could be heard from outside. It was happening again.

He quickly nudged Harry awake.

"Oi. S'matter?" his friend mumbled, sounding vaguely annoyed at his awakening.

"You need to wake up."

"Why? What's happening?"

"Nothing good."

Once Harry had properly awoken and become aware of the noises outside, he went to wake Sirius up too. Draco took the opportunity to peep outside the tent. The first thing that met him was noise; screaming, but also drunken yells and roaring laughter, and the sound of spellfire. Panicked people ran past. He carefully looked round the corner, in the direction they were fleeing from. There was a crowd in dark robes; the source of the laughter and jeers, as they swept through the campsite, firing off spells haphazardly in all directions, lighting up the sky with flashes of light and blasting any unfortunate tents (or people) that got in their way.

_Fuck. It's all my fault! I knew this was coming! Why didn't I do more?_ Clearly Draco's pathetic attempts at neutralising the threat were just that, pathetic. He'd failed to protect those Muggles from his father and his cronies... _Wait.._. He looked again. There was no levitated bodies. There was no Muggles being tortured! Draco might not have prevented the chaos, but maybe he'd achieved something!?

A hand suddenly appeared on Draco's shoulder. He jumped, grabbing his wand from his holster.

"Draco!" Sirius exclaimed. Rather than sounding peeved at the wand now pointed at him, the man sounded _relived_ (!?) to see him. "Get back inside! It's not safe out here!"

"I don't think it'll be safe inside soon. Not when those lot reach us."

"They won't be getting this far. Not if I have anything to do with it." The look on the man's face highlighted to Draco just why he'd been so famous a figure in the first war, even before his purported face-heel turn. None of them would admit it of course, but Draco knew the Death Eaters had feared facing the man in battle, back when he was in his prime and bursting with just enough of the Black-family insanity to make him a formidable opponent. Nowadays, Draco mainly saw a immature man-child, but in this moment, he saw the warrior the man could be.

"You can't seriously think you can take them all on on your own!?"

"I Sirius-ly know I can. And I hope I won't be alone. There's good wizards out there, who won't be cowed by these cowards, whoever they are. Now, get back inside, and you and Harry wait there until I get back, understand?"

"What's going on?" Harry asked as soon as Draco re-entered the tent.

"There's a riot of some kind. " ( _Let's not mention the D E words quite yet.._.). "Sirius ran off to go fight them. He was very insistent we should wait here."

"We need to go help him!"

"Harry, we're underage wizards and there's a whole campsite full of adults. I don't think this is a time for us to go running into danger."

Harry's counter-argument was interrupted by Arthur Weasley charging into the tent. _It really needs some kind of defensive charm to prevent people from just entering..._

"Harry, Draco, where's Sirius? There's some kind of riot going on! You need to get out of here!"

"Sirius ran off to fight them," (" _of course he did_ ," Weasley muttered under his breath). "He told us to wait here.

"I don't think that's a good idea. They're coming this way, and quickly. You should go with Fred, George, Ron, Ginny and Hermione into the woods. Get out of the vicinity. I'll come find you when it's safe!" He started chivvying them out of the tent.

"But Sirius..." Harry started.

"I'll tell him where you've gone. Now go!" He ran off after his elder sons, who were already heading towards the growing crowd of incendiaries. Draco met Ron and Hermione's worried faces. There wasn't time to say anything before the twins were hurrying their little sister along, and they were running to keep up. People seemed to be everywhere, running around in panic, buffeting Draco back and forth as he and his friends tried to stick together and keep moving.

His heart hit his mouth as he heard Hermione scream near him. He lit his wand, trying to spot her in the darkness. He was relieved to see Ron pulling her to her feet, seemingly none the worse-for-wear. Presumably she'd just been knocked over by the fleeing crowd. He held his wand out to light her as she brushed herself down.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She lit up her own wand. "You two light your wands too," she instructed Ron and Harry. "If we can't see, we'll only end up tripping again."

"Ah, no, I don't believe it... I've lost my wand!" Harry exclaimed after a few seconds of poking around his pockets.

"You're fucking with me right? Please tell me you're fucking with me?" Draco begged. They all shone their wands at him as he searched the ground around him.

"Maybe it's back in your tent?" Ron suggested.

"Maybe it fell out of your pocket when we were running?" Hermione added.

"Why isn't it in your wand holster?" Draco asked.

"I'm not wearing it."

"Why!?" Harry looked surprised at the ferocity of Draco's reply.

"I didn't really think to."

"You shouldn't have to! It should be second nature! You're the Boy-Who-Fucking-Lived, for Merlin's sake! You can't afford to have to search around for your wand! It could be the difference between life and death!"

"This isn't the time to argue about it," Hermione hissed. "We need to get out of here! Where did the others go?" They looked around. Ron's brothers and sister were nowhere to be seen.

They kept going a bit further. A sudden rustling noise made them jump. Draco nearly ended up cursing what turned out to be the House Elf they met at the match earlier.

"There is bad wizards about!" she squeaked, "Winky is getting out of the way!" She was moving in a way that she'd been ordered to stay and was fighting against it. Ron asked what the elf was doing. Harry had the same suspicion as Draco and suggested she hadn't been given permission to hide, setting Hermione off on a rant about elf welfare.

"This is not the time!" Draco exclaimed, "Come on!" He grabbed Hermione's arm and started dragging her further down the path. She looked rather affronted and quickly pulled her arm free, but at least she continued moving, dropping the argument for now. They swerved in and out of crowds, past a group of goblins. Up ahead, Draco spotted a gaggle of wizards flirting with some Veela.

"Occlude," he muttered to his friends as they approached. He had to grab Ron's arm when the boy started drifting towards them, looking like he was about to spout ridiculous claims to try and impress the creatures, but they managed to get past them without too much difficulty.

They'd reached the woods and the crowds of panicked people had thinned, until they were in a clearing on their own.

"Maybe we should wait here?" Harry suggested.

"It's as good a place as any, I suppose," Ron agreed.

"I hope the others are okay," Hermione worried.

"They'll be fine," Draco reassured, "We're the trouble magnets, after all."

They sat down on the forest floor, Draco making sure he was sitting looking back the way they'd come from (where any threat was most likely to come from). There was a few minutes of quiet, until they heard the sound of someone staggering in their direction, coming from further in the woods. Draco pulled himself to his feet, keeping his wand out.

"Hello?" Harry asked into the silence. "Who's there?"

"MORSMORDRE!" a voice shouted. _Oh fuck!_ Draco muttered to himself as he watched in horror as a Dark Mark erupted into the sky. He shoved all his friends behind him as screams began to erupt around them, as other people spotted the Mark.

"Who's there?" Harry called again.

"Harry, come on, _move_!" Hermione begged, getting the right idea and tugging him backwards. They needed to get out of there. Draco hadn't been sure whether the Dark Mark would appear, but he definitely hadn't been planning on being right there if it did.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked, startled.

"The fucking Dark Mark's the matter!" Draco exclaimed. "We need to get the fuck out of here, NOW!"

" _Voldemort's._..?"

"Yes! Fucking move already!"

They started fleeing the clearing, moving sideways through the woods, away from whoever had cast the Dark Mark. They might not have been an ally of the Death Eaters causing terror back in the campsite, but Draco would bet they were even less of an ally to them. He took the rear of their group, ready at a moment's notice to turn and start casting if anyone came up behind them.

Suddenly they were surrounded by the sound of apparation, and Draco all but ran into his friends, who had stopped before he did.

"DUCK!" Harry screamed, shoving them all to the ground. Not a moment too soon, as spellfire lit up above their heads. Adrenaline was racing through Draco, his heart beating out of his chest. The part of him that that wanted to lead in a crisis was quickly becoming overpowered by the part of him that was filled with fear, that had seen too much violence and terror. He barely recognised as a voice shouted for their new attackers to stop, and the spells fell silent. The voice called out their names, he thought he perhaps heard his own tagged along at the end, but whoever they were sounded to be shoved aside by another wizard.

"Which of you did it? Which of you conjured the Dark Mark?" the second voice commanded. Draco slowly unfolded his head from where he was covering it with his hands, and sat up so he could see the new threat, whilst his friends protested their innocence. They were surrounded by a whole crowd of wizards, most of which worked for the Ministry, including Arthur Weasley, who in hindsight Draco realised was the one to stop the group firing on them in the first place. It was Barty Crouch who was interrogating them. Draco had never liked the man. He'd been a sullen figure through most of their original Fourth Year, until he, Draco seemed to recall, disappeared under mysterious circumstances, never to be heard of again. They'd been some rumour he'd had skeletons in the back of his closet. Some kind of dirty secret involving his Death Eater son, the one he'd tried to sweep under the carpet and pretend he never had, to protect his precious reputation.

Luckily most of the gathered witches and wizards gathered seemed to believe that it wasn't them that had cast the Dark Mark, following the flawed argument it couldn't have been them because they were "just kids". Draco knew to keep his mouth shut and his head down; considering his father was probably running around in robes back at the campsite, he didn't want to draw attention to himself.

He was surprised when their search for the true culprit led to Amos Diggory returning with a stunned House Elf. Not just any elf. Winky, who it turned out, apparently belonged to Crouch. The surprises kept coming, as they accused the elf of all things, of casting the Dark Mark, then revealed it was carrying a wand. _Surely it **can't** have been the elf that cast it!?_ Where would it even have gotten the wand from. _Wait, please no..._ Draco gazed at the wand in more detail. _Oh, fuck..._

"Hey- that's mine!" _And there we have it! The night keeps getting better and better!_

At least the accusations against Harry (who really needed to learn to keep his mouth shut sometimes) were quickly dropped. The elf was still the main suspect, though, as Hermione rightly pointed out, can't have been responsible. Draco should have realised that it definitely wasn't an elf's voice they heard cast the incantation. _Where did the elf fit in, then? How did it get Harry's wand?_ The night was going so shit, Draco couldn't even bring himself to be surprised anymore when it was revealed that it was indeed Harry's wand that had cast the Dark Mark.

The adult wizards continued to argue amongst themselves about the elf, who by now was crying rather pitifully. Crouch ended up giving it clothes, much to the indignation of Hermione. She was still clearly wanting to argue with them when Mr Weasley managed to get Harry his wand back and was trying to shepherd the children out of there before anything else happened.

"Hermione," the man hissed at her, trying to be quiet, presumably to avoid drawing attention to the group again. Luckily she followed, but she was clearly still riled up, returning to complaining once they were out of the immediate vincinity.

"Hermione, I agree with you," Mr Weasley pandered, "but now is not the time to discuss elf rights. I want to get back to the tent as fast as we can. What happened to the others?"

"We lost them in the dark," Ron answered. He tried asking his father about the Dark Mark (in a way to suggest somehow he didn't understand what the big deal was!), but was brushed off.

The campsite was quiet now. Worried witches and wizards were still dotted around here and there, but there was no more screaming, and the Death Eaters were nowhere to be seen. Draco tried to spot their tents; there were quite a few that had been burnt down, but eventually he spotted their row, where his and his friends' still seemed to be standing. Stood outside the Black tent was Sirius. It was obvious when the man spotted them approaching- he came charging towards them, grabbing Harry up in a massive hug. He put the bewildered boy down so he could look him over.

"Harry, are you alright!?"

"I'm fine. Are you okay?" The man had blood dripping down from a cut above his eyebrow.

"Ah, this is nothing. I'm fine. Much better for seeing you. Where've you been?"

"That, I think, is going to be a long story," Mr Weasley interrupted. "Shall we head back to the tents for a cup of tea, and talk it over?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while again. I've still been stuck in a bit of a block (I'm hoping now they're off back to Hogwarts, the writing should start flowing better again). This chapter's shorter than most, but I didn't want to needlessly pad it out, and this seemed a good place to end the chapter.  
> Also, I spotted quite a few typos whilst editing this chapter, but that means there was quite a few to begin with, so if I've missed any, let me know.

They all headed into the Weasley tent, where the rest of the Weasley's who had attended the match were waiting. Draco considered for a second whether he should call at his tent to see if his father was there, but decided he didn't care right now if he was, the man could wait (presumably the man wouldn't dare go home without him, not if he didn't want to face Narcissa's wrath). They discussed over everything that had happened to them, and the significance of the Dark Mark (which somehow Ron hadn't grasped). Draco was interested to hear the Death Eaters had indeed fled when the Mark appeared.

The topic returned to that of Winky. Hermione got into an argument with Percy Weasley about Crouch's treatment of her (it turned out Weasley now worked for the man, and seemed to think the sun shone out of his backside). The question of what would happen to the elf now was raised.

"Well, Crouch gave her clothes. She's a free elf now. There's nothing to stop anyone else taking her bond," Draco pointed out, looking at the adults.

"We couldn't take the elf!" Percy protested. "How would it look!?" That was a fair point. The Weasley's hardly had he best reputation in society. If they took on an elf someone else had dramatically fired, it could make them look desperate and uncouth.

"I don't care what people think. In fact, I'd be tempted to take the elf just to see what people say," Sirius interjected.

"Why don't you? You could always send her to look after one of the other Black properties, if you don't want her around all the time?"

"I already have one demented elf looking after them, I don't need another. It would practically be elf cruelty to leave her with Kreacher." Hermione started complaining at him about his attitude to his elf. Sirius was having none of it. "Hermione, if you had had the displeasure of Kreacher's company, you'd understand where I was coming from. He was a nasty piece of work to start off with, then spent far too long with just my mother's portrait for company."

"And now you're leaving him with no company at all?"

"Fine, I'll offer to take the elf on. But if Kreacher gets to her and the two end up plotting world destruction or something, I'm blaming you lot for persuading me."

It was at that point the discussion was disrupted by a very ruffled Lucius Malfoy dashing in. His eyes swung all around the tent until they settled on Draco, relived.

"Draco. You're alright? I've been looking everywhere for you." Draco wasn't sure how to reply. Part of him wanted to tear the man to shreds, to rip into him for his almost certain involvement of the chaos that evening. But as angry as he was, the man was still his father. He didn't want to sell him out. Sure, everyone in the tent might _suspect_ Lucius was amongst those running around in Death Eater robes, but there was a difference between suspicions and the man's own son accusing him. Plus, he really did look like he'd been worried about Draco. Draco had no doubts his father loved him. If only that love was enough to stop the man being a complete idiot at times.

"We're _all_ fine, thank Merlin," Draco replied. _There we go, still polite but passive-aggressive, and reminding him that his actions could have hurt people I do actually care about._

"Good, good," father replied, nodding whilst looking around the tent in a vague pretense he actually cared about any of the other occupants and that he was glad of their safety too. "Erm... Thank you... For looking after Draco." _(Well, that looked like he found it painful to say)._ "We'd better be off. Your mother will be worrying if she's heard." ( _You mean, my mother will be **fuming** if she's heard what you've been up to, and how I got mixed up in it). _

"I'll floo call you guys tomorrow?" Draco said to his friends. "Stay safe."

With that, his dad was dragging him out of the tent and they were disapparating back to the manor. _He must be keen to get out of here, he left the tent behind (not that I expect we'll be using that thing again anytime soon...)._ Maybe Draco would send Dobby to collect it later; Draco wasn't really sold on the idea of camping, but you never know when the thing might come in useful...

Lucius looked relieved when he wasn't immediately accosted by his wife. Clearly Narcissa had gone to bed when she left the campground, and hadn't yet heard about what had gone down. Draco was pretty sure he heard his father cast a sound-damping charm on himself before creeping off in the direction of their second bedroom (i.e. the one Lucius stayed in when he was in the doghouse). The man was either fearful of Narcissa's wrath (as well he should be), or was just saving himself the bother of having to move to that bed (probably both).

Draco took himself off to his own bed. It was now so late it was early, and Draco doubted he'd slept for long when he had fallen asleep on that sofa earlier (what felt like hours and hours ago). He wasn't sure if he'd be able to sleep, after everything, but clearly his exhaustion won out, because next thing he new it was morning (well, later morning, barely even still morning, in fact).

After grabbing a quick breakfast, he went on a stroll around the house, and found his mother in her favourite lounge, reading the Daily Prophet. She thought the paper was absolute trash, so Draco knew she was only reading it to see what it had to say about the night's events (the headline: 'SCENES OF TERROR AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP' screamed out on the cover). When she spotted him, she threw the paper to one side, standing and pulling him into a hug.

"Draco darling, I'm so glad you're alright! Come, sit!" (she pulled him into an armchair next to the one she'd been sat in), "Tell me about what happened."

So Draco told her an edited and sanitised version of the story. Basically that they went to hide in the woods, someone cast the Dark Mark (he left out how near to them the mystery figure had been), then they had a chat with some incompetent Ministry stooges who'd tried blaming a House Elf. She still asked him a few worried questions, checking that he hadn't been harmed, and that the stooges hadn't dared blame him.

"And where was Sirius during all this?" she asked, just as Draco was thinking she was done.

"Well, he went to help deal with the riot."

"And he left you alone?"

"He did tell me and Harry to wait in the tent. That just didn't turn out to be very... feasible."

"Hmm." Draco got the feeling mother would be having words with her cousin.

He snatched up the newspaper as he left the room, interested to see what the notoriously unreliable paper had to say. It was actually more accurate than he expected; probably at least half of what was written was actually true. He was also interested to read Rita Skeeter's rather scathing attack on the Ministry, blaming incompetence for the lax security and failure to apprehend the culprits (which, for however much she was known for gossip-mongering, attention-grabbing "journalism", were absolutely fair points to make).

When he caught up with his friends later, Ron spent most of the time complaining about how much Percy was complaining about how much people were complaining about the Ministry (Draco recognised the irony. Ron, it seemed, did not). He might have complained longer, but the subject of the complaints himself came to insist to his brother he needed to use the floo for 'important Ministry business' and that 'Ronald' would have to wait until tomorrow, when he could 'talk away to his friends as much as he wanted, on the Hogwarts Express'.

Draco hadn't really thought much about the upcoming year (apart from pondering about the menace that was the Triwizard Tournament). It was a good job he didn't have to pack his own trunk ( _thank Merlin for elves. How **do** people manage without them?)_


	7. Interlude 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus chapter! I wanted to include another interlude, showing a discussion between Narcissa and Sirius. I really did enjoy writing from Sirius' perspective for a change (and thought I'd sow a few seeds for a future plot point...)

Sirius had just returned from dropping Harry off for the Hogwarts Express, and had sat down in the study, with the intention of pouring himself a rather large drink. ( _Hey!_ He wasn't a day-drinker, _thank you very much!_ He'd just had a stressful few days, and was no longer responsible for supervising a child. He deserved a drink!) However, before he had chance to pour his _much deserved_ drink, the charm went off, indicating someone had come through his floo. It couldn't be Harry (not unless the boy had somehow managed to get into chaos _this early_ in the school year). Remus, he knew, had other plans today. Albus fucking Dumbledore should be preparing for the new school year at Hogwarts, so wouldn't be bothering Sirius with a visit today of all days. So who could it be?

If he had House Elves working in the house, he could have sent them to greet and fetch his new visitor. Theoretically he _could_ summon Kreacher, or Winky (his new acquisition), but had a principle of not having elves in his house, and wasn't going to change that out of laziness (he hadn't before after all). Therefore he reluctantly pulled himself to his feet, and trudged down to see who had come through his floo.

He did nearly shoot off a curse from his wand (that he already had out and waiting) when he spotted Narcissa Malfoy stood waiting next to his fireplace. _Why did I fucking add her to the floo permissions?_ She was stood their nonchalantly, merely raising an eyebrow at the sight of his raised wand, rather than going for her own (but he had no doubt she'd be cursing him quick enough if he did go on the offensive).

"Narcissa. What a surprise. I was not expecting the pleasure of your company."

"I thought we needed to talk, dear cousin."

"What about?"

"Draco."

Narcissa had a fiery look in her eye, and Sirius got the feeling he was going to be experiencing some of her fierce Black temper before this conversation was other (and that he wouldn't be getting out of having it). He led her back up to the study, where at least he could sit in his comfy armchair and have a drink during it.

"I left Draco in your care the other night, on the understanding you would look after him for the period he was in your care. Only I hear you left him and Harry unattended and in danger, and it is only luck that they remained unharmed and I'm not coming to you with more... _anger_." Sirius Black wasn't scared of Narcissa Malfoy, but he had to recognise she could be damn good at being menacing whilst maintaining the ladylike façade that was drilled into her at a young age.

"If your son was in danger, then maybe it was because his father was running around with his sadistic little friends, trying to spread terror, rather than looking after his son."

"We are not here to talk about Lucius," she snapped. _Damn_ , Sirius did not envy the man. His wife was clearly _fuming_ at him. "We are here to talk about you, and responsibility." She paused, summoning one of his glasses and helping herself to a drink too. "You are not a carefree bachelor, free to run around and play the dashing hero anymore, Sirius. You are a father, in spirit and responsibility, if not in name. You can't just go running off into danger when the whim takes you. You're the parent to the Boy-Who-Lived, for Merlin's sake. You of all people need to be alert and responsible. You know how easily Potter attracts trouble. You can't go leaving him alone in situations like that one. He will always be in danger. And, as much as we both might dislike it, it seems my son will be by his side, in danger too. So step up your act, learn some responsibility, and pull your head out of your ass, before I have to do it for you."

Sirius paused, taking a sip of his drink, before replying.

"Your concerns have been noted. But answer me this, I'm curious. Do you actually care about whether I'm a good parent to Harry, or are you just concerned your son might get caught in the crossfire."

"Draco is everything to me."

"The second then..." Sirius surmised, interrupting.

"Draco is everything to me," Narcissa repeated. "And he cares about Harry. I do not wish to see my son upset."

"That's all well and good, but how far does that care for the feelings of your son stretch? If Voldemort returns, is the thought your son might be peeved really going to stop you from wanting to help your Lord achieve his goals of seeing my Godson dead?"

"Draco will be more than peeved," Narcissa replied, dodging the bulk of the question. "I know, with certainty in my heart, if the war does indeed come again, Draco has chosen his side, for better or for worse. As much as you may hate to admit it, as much as _I_ hate to admit it, you and he have much in common. I need you to see that. I need to know you'll have his back. Look past your biases, your preconceptions, and see who Draco is, in his own right."

"Why are you saying all this? And why now?"

"The other night, it might have just been an isolated event, or it might be a sign of things to come. My son has placed himself in a dangerous position. I plan to safeguard him as much as I can. But I need for you to do something for me too..."


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while again. I've been busy, then this chapter didn't write itself as easily as I thought it might.

Basically as soon as they'd sat down on the Hogwarts Express, Ron was asking Draco if he knew what was happening at Hogwarts this year.

"My whole family seem to know something, and wouldn't tell me!" the boy complained. _Should I tell them about the Triwizard Tournament? Should **I** know about it yet?_ Draco tried to remember if he knew last time around. He had the feeling his dad had told him. _He didn't say anything this time (I wonder if that means anything?)_ He decided saying something would probably be for the best. _I probably should try and deter Harry from entering the damn farce._ Last time around he'd believed Harry had entered himself in the tournament in yet another bid for attention. Now he'd like to give his friend the benefit of the doubt, that he wouldn't force his way into a game he wasn't allowed to enter and was noted to have previously led to fatalities, but he'd be remiss if he did nothing and Harry did go ahead and enter himself.

"There's some kind of inter-school competition happening apparently, but it's for those doing their NEWTS so won't involve us," he told them.

"Inter-school?" Hermione asked. "Which schools?"

"Oh, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang I think."

"Oh," sniffed Hermione disapprovingly. "I don't know much about Beauxbatons, but I've heard Durmstrang has a horrible reputation."

"Does it?" Draco racked his brain. Sure the place was known for being secretive, and had been a bit marred by the whole Grindelwald connection, but what school wasn't connected with dark wizards? They all needed educating too. Hogwarts had plenty of dark alumni (but this time around, Draco was determined not be counted amongst them).

"According to 'An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe', it puts a lot of emphasis on the Dark Arts."

"What counts as Dark Arts is a very debatable topic. Sure, some spells are easier to use sadistically than others, but ultimately, any spell could be ' _dark'_ if you use it that way. You could use Aguamenti to drown someone. You could use Wingardium Leviosa to drop heavy objects on someone, you could..."

"Stop!" Hermione exclaimed, whacking his arm.

"Mate, that's a bit dark!" Ron muttered. "How much of your time do you spending plotting how to kill people?"

"Very little. But I'm a Slytherin, and we are cunning, and we are practical. Whereas you Gryffindors fight brave and ferocious, we fight smart."

"Do you though?" Ron asked.

"Well, no, a lot of the time, unfortunately not. I won't deny, many in my House are idiots. But that's how we _should_ fight."

"Can we get back to talking about this Inter-school competition that's happening!?" Hermione asked, as if she hadn't been involved in sending them off on a tangent.

"What kind of competition is it?" Harry asked.

"Well, they're going to supposedly pick one student from each school, who will go up against each other in ridiculous trials, until they declare a winner. That's if any of them are still alive."

"They might die!?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Well, when the competition used to be run years ago, students died. They're meant to be making it safer, but based on previous ' _safety'_ standards at Hogwarts, I'll believe that when I see it. Even if I was old enough, you wouldn't catch me taking part in it."

"Then why will anyone enter?"

"I bet they'll sell some bullshit about ' _eternal glory'_ or some other nonsense. Plus, there's apparently there's going to be prize money."

"How much prize money?" asked Ron, perking up.

"Ron, did you not hear the part about students being killed before? Plus we're too young to enter!" Hermione admonished.

"I was just curious..." the boy mumbled.

As the journey progressed, they were joined for a while by Finnigan, Thomas and Longbottom, the former quickly bringing up a discussion about the Quidditch World Cup. Hermione soon got bored and buried herself in a textbook with that annoying self-important look Draco had never managed to fully train her out of (a look that in his first life filled him with loathing for her, but now just made him roll his eyes). Eventually Draco took pity on her and ended up engaged with her and Longbottom in a discussion on Herbology (not a topic Draco was particularly interested in, but he knew Longbottom was). The boy ended up staying chatting with them after Finnigan and Thomas left, and Lovegood and Ron's sister joined them (after Draco invited them in as they passed by). That might have been a mistake on Longbottom's part, as Lovegood soon began lecturing the bemused boy on her fictional creatures and other Quibbler conspiracy theories. He was only saved when the Weasley siblings started bickering, and Ginny decided to leave, taking her friend with her (Draco was pleased to see that Lovegood and the younger Weasley were indeed friends now; whether his previous intervention had had anything to do with it, he wasn't certain).

The train eventually reached Hogsmeade and they disembarked for the Thestral-led carriages (Draco was interested to note that Longbottom appeared to be able to see the creatures too). The rain was pelting down, and they were soaked in the short dash from the carriages into the castle.

As they entered the doors, Draco spotted something red flying towards them out of the corner of his eye. Draco dived, shoving Ron out of the way, brandishing his wand and looking around for where the attack was coming from. A splash of water hit Draco's side as he turned and discovered what he thought had been spellfire was in fact a water balloon. He looked up and spotted the culprit; Peeves the poltergeist. Draco tried to catch his breath and settle his nerves; they weren't under attack (well, they were, but not in a way that matters). Ron shoved Draco off him, grumbling and rubbing his arm where it was likely bruised from hitting the ground.

McGonagall came along and sent Peeves on his way (after almost taking Hermione out in the process), before shooing the pupils towards the Great Hall too. Draco took the time to cast a quick drying charm on himself and his friends before hurrying along as quick as they could on the slippery wet floor. Filch stomped past, giving Draco the dirtiest of glares, probably pissed that he was going to have to mop the floor once all the students had entered. _It's not my fucking fault it's raining! What does he expect me to do? Dry the floor as well as myself? It's not **my** job. _

Draco said goodbye to his friends as they parted to head across to the Gryffindor table, and he sat down at the Slytherin. 

"So I hear you and your Gryffindors managed to get mixed up in the chaos at the World Cup," Zabini commented, in place of a greeting. "How did you manage that? You managed to stay out of trouble when we met up over the summer, but when we're not there: chaos."

"That's what you get for spending all your time with Gryffindors," Nott commented.

"You hung out with them too," Draco pointed out.

"Following your bad example. Plus that was for my essay."

"You guys all hung out with the Gryffindorks and didn't invite me!?" Pansy asked, shoving at Blaise so she could properly get her head into the conversation.

"Would you have wanted to come?" Draco asked.

"No," she stated, like that should have been obvious. "But I would have appreciated the opportunity to turn the invite down."

Draco didn't get a chance to retort, as just then, the Hall doors opened and McGonagall began leading the new First Years in (who all resembled drowned rats, particularly the one draped in Hagrid's coat, happily announcing how he fell in the lake, that Draco seemed to recognise as the younger Creevey brother).

During the sorting, Draco played a game with himself, trying to remember which House each student would end up in before the Hat announced it- he was right most of the time (the few he was wrong with he put down to his memory rather than timeline changes).

Next was the feast. During it, Draco examined the staff table. There weren't any surprises. Moody was indeed the Defence professor, like he'd been last time around. _I'm going to have to keep an eye on him._ Just as he thought that, the man met his gaze, glaring back, as if he was thinking the same thing. Draco kept eye contact (though putting some extra effort into his Occlumency shields, just in case). What might have turned into a staring contest was broken when something hit Draco in the side of the head (that something turned out to be a bread roll).

"Quit glaring. I'm sure you'll have time to try and kill each other later in the year," Pansy commented.

"What?"

"I think Miss Parkinson is referring to you and your Gryffindors' ongoing failing attempts to die in ridiculous manners, that always seem to leave us short a Defence professor. I assume you're planning on continuing the trend, and you and Moody will end up trying to kill each other by the end of the year?" Zabini replied.

"Could you at least try to wait until summer term?" Nott asked. "Some of use would actually like the chance to learn some defensive magic. I mean sure, based on the quality of Defence teachers at this place, and the mamby-pamby approach to a Defence syllabus, that's a lofty goal, but actually having a teacher last more than a year would be helpful. If this is another year I learn fuck-all about defending myself, then Merlin-help-me, I'm holding you responsible Malfoy."

Once the feast was over, Dumbledore began his announcements. The proclamation that quidditch was cancelled caused uproar amongst the students, but the Headmaster quickly got them to shut up by surprising them with news of the Triwizard Tournament (Draco had the feeling the explanation had been interrupted last time, but went without incident this time around). The man spoke enthuastically about the farce, trying to make it sound like a good thing (despite throwing in phrases like "death toll mounted so high" and "mortal danger"). The crowd got noisy again when he mentioned the age restriction to only those of age (as apparently this ridiculous school was full of idiots wishing to risk their lives for the sake of a game).

As the students started funnelling out of the hall, Draco overheard Ron talking to Harry.

"What d'you reckon? Be cool to enter, wouldn't it?" the boy was saying. Draco charged over.

"Were you not fucking listening to me on the train? Have you not been in enough fucking danger over the past three years without trying to covet it? Merlin-fucking-help-me, Ronald Weasley, if either of you," [he turned to include Harry in his glare too, then added Hermione for good measure], "even think about entering that farce, I will tie you up in the dungeons until the entry period has passed."

"Ooh, you scared, Malfoy?" one of the Weasley twins cooed.

"I'm not scared. I'm just sick of nearly getting fucking killed. Is one year where we don't end up in the Hospital Wing too much to ask?"

"At Hogwarts? Yeah, I'd say so. Chaos will happen, you might as well go with the flow," the other twin replied.

"And take your chance to get rich from it," the first added. Draco could have pointed out that he was already rich, but that would probably just piss all the Weasleys present off, and make them more likely to enter to spite him. He just stayed quiet. He'd have to think of some extra arguments. Maybe he'd given Harry too much credit after all, and the boy had entered himself last time, probably egged on by Ron, his second-idiot-in-command. That _would not_ be happening this time.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas!!!  
> Yes, I know this chapter is late, even for me. It just wasn't writing. I kept sitting down to write it and getting like three sentences written.  
> I think for the time being, probably expect chapters more like every four weeks (and any that come earlier than that are a bonus).

One thing that crossed Draco's mind overnight, was how last time, Harry was selected for the Triwizard Tournament not as the Hogwarts Champion, but as an extra. That probably supported the theory that Harry didn't enter himself (not unless he did something especially sneaky to manage to not only enter himself, but enter himself not as a separate category). It was all well and good making sure Harry _didn't_ go ahead entering himself, but Draco shouldn't let that distract him from the bigger danger; someone else entering Harry, for nefarious purposes.

He also realised one thing he'd been overlooking; he'd been all about making sure Harry wasn't entered, but surely he should be doing the same about Cedric Diggory; the damn competition did cost the boy his life after all. How would he even approach that problem? After all, Diggory almost certainly entered the competition off his own back, and, based on the rules of the competition, was well within his rights to do so. Draco didn't know him well enough that he felt he'd be able to successfully persuade him not to enter (plus that would definitely draw suspicion; why would he be interfering in Diggory's business and no one else's?).

But that was another point; what if somehow he did end up persuading Diggory not to enter, only for whoever was selected for the competition in his place to die instead? After all, according to Potter, Voldemort had killed Diggory because he was "the spare". He died because he was there. The best way, the most efficient way, to save Diggory, is to stop Harry from being entered in the Tournament. If Harry's not in it, then Voldemort can't use it as an opportunity to try and kidnap him, and won't go murdering anyone who gets mixed up in it.

That settled, Draco fell back to sleep.

Draco's morning lessons went ok. His friends looked rather stressed when they arrived in the Hall at lunch. They'd had Care of Magical Creatures, so Draco wasn't particularly surprised. Particularly when he learned today they had been introduced to the monstrosities that were the Blast-Ended Skrewts.

In the afternoon they had a double lesson of Divination. Unsurprisingly, Trelawney started off with the usual doom-mongering and picking on Harry with vague statements: "I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass". _Because that's specific, isn't it!? Not like she's just saying that so whatever happens, she can claim she predicted it..._

Harry seemed to be letting it bother him. Possibly. He also seemed to be falling asleep, so maybe he was just zoning out rather than overthinking it. Whatever the reason, Trelawney woke him up again so she could insult him some more (and incorrectly guess he was born in winter).

This term they were studying the stars and the planets. That sounded like the kind of Divination centaurs were into (whether Draco having a centaur Patronus would aid him in the skill, he wasn't sure, based on the fact he got by in the subject by bullshiting and using his future knowledge rather than using any actual talent).

Ron seemed in a particularly humorous mood, delivering a savage insult to Harry ("when two Neptunes appear in the sky, it is a sure sign that a midget in glasses is being born") and a double-entendre to Brown ("can I have a look at Uranus, too, Lavender?")

In Potions, once again Draco paired with Longbottom (practically a tradition by now) and narrowly managed to prevent him from melting a cauldron. Ron and Harry were under the impression that Snape was in an even worse mood than usual, but Draco thought it was quite typical to be honest. They also thought Snape was _scared_ of Moody, which Draco thought was a ridiculous suggestion. Sure, the man seemed to be apprehensive of him, but that was only sensible considering Moody was a Auror notoriously suspicious of ex Death Eaters (and, based on Draco's memories, suspect himself).

Speaking of Moody, Draco wasn't looking forward to his first lesson with him (unlike his friends, who had heard from their fellow Gryffindors how ' _great'_ his lessons were). When the Slytherins entered his classroom, the man began by glaring at them.

He asked the class if they could name the three Unforgivable Curses, then when given the answers, rather than giving out House Points, made a snide aside about _of course_ the Slytherins knew them. Draco would have been annoyed, but was too distracted by panic at remembering what this lesson was going to be. Seeing the Cruciatus and Killing Curses wouldn't be nice, but as long as Moody stuck to the same plan as last time and didn't cast them at them, then Draco would deal. But he didn't want the Imperius casting on him. He would probably be better than resisting it than he had been last time round, but he had much more important secrets to hide.

Moody produced a cage of mice and started demonstrating the curses. _Didn't he use spiders last time?_ Draco wasn't sure if the mice were an improvement or not. He spent the lesson trying to come up with arguments of why he shouldn't have the Imperius cast on him, so was quite surprised when the lesson ended without the topic coming up. _Maybe he's not doing that this time round? Maybe Dumbledore has learnt something after the chaos of all his previous Defence Professors, and realised letting this one cast control curses the children might not be a good idea?_

Still, when his class let out early at the time Draco knew his friends were having their first Defence class, he headed over to meet them and make sure they didn't appear to be under Moody's thrall. He spotted Hermione looking concerned, so speed-walked over, following her to a rather shell-shocked looking Longbottom.

"Oh, hello," the boy greeted, his voice even higher than usual, and not even particularly seeming to notice Draco had joined them, "interesting lesson wasn't it? I wonder what's for dinner, I'm- I'm starving, aren't you?" He continued to ramble on, even more nonsensically, when asked if he was alright.

_Of course he's upset. I should have thought._ The boy would have just watched a demonstration of the curse that drove his parents into insanity.

Moody came out of the classroom, clearly also noticed that the boy was upset, and invited him to come back into his office, causing Longbottom to look even more frightened. Harry, Ron and Hermione were looking at each other awkwardly, but none of them seemed like they were going to say anything, so clearly it was down to Draco to save Longbottom.

"Come on Neville, let's get down to the Great Hall," he told him, "you'll feel better when you've got some food in you." _That's not necessarily true, but I'm sure it'll be better than being left with Moody._

"Yes, my gut says dessert will be treacle tart today," Ron added, sending a gentle smile Longbottom's way, "that would be nice, wouldn't it?" He wrapped his arm in Longbottom's starting leading the boy away down the corridor, with the rest of them following on.

That evening, Draco had a quick peep at the Marauders' Map (a tool that, to be honest, he criminally under-utilised). He wanted to see if he could spot Moody up to anything suspicious, but the man just appeared to be sat in his office, which didn't tell him much; he could be plotting a murder, or simply marking essays.

The term started speeding along, the way it often seemed to do. It caught Draco by surprise, just when he was settled in the feeling he was safe, when Moody sprung on them the news that he _would_ be casting the Imperius Curse on them, apparently on ' _Dumbledore's'_ orders _._ Draco's disapproval must have shown on his face, as he'd not even said anything when Moody asked "Got a problem with that, Malfoy?"

"Why, yes, Professor, I do. I just don't feel safe having that curse, cast on me."

"So you've had it cast on you before?"

"No." _Yes._ "And I would like it to stay that way."

"And you think if you ask nicely, He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named or his Death Eaters won't cast it on you? Or maybe you do think that, with them being your daddy's mates after all?"

"That's slander. It's well known how my father suffered under that awful curse." _We all know how he used that excuse, anyway._

"The reason for me casting the curse on you all in the lesson, is so you can all experience it for yourselves in a safe environment, so you can better recognise it and fight it if it was cast on you for real," Moody addressed to the whole class, sidestepping Draco's last comment.

" _Safe..."_

"Do you have concerns about the safety of this classroom, Mr Malfoy?"

"Just a bit, considering all the chaos that has gone down over the past three years, involving every Defence teacher I have had so far. And how many times I have ended up in the Hospital Wing in this school. It makes sense for me to be cautious. You do advise _constant vigilance_ after all." The look on Moody's face seemed to be a cross between annoyed and understanding, like he wasn't sure whether to shout, or say 'touché'. In the end the man sighed.

"Well, as I have offered to students in other Houses, you may excuse yourself from the lesson, if you so wish, but I would greatly advise against missing such an important educational opportunity."

"Your advise is noted, and your offer is accepted. Would you permit me to stay in the lesson, or would you rather I go and do private study in the library for the period?" Draco would much rather stay, so he could watch out for his fellow Slytherins. Moody _probably_ wouldn't try anything (nothing had happened last time when he cast the Imperius on them all after all, well, apart from making them look a bit foolish), but Draco would still rather stay and make sure.

"You may stay, if you so wish, and none of your colleagues have a problem with that." He looked around the room at the gathered students. "And of course, you all have the right to refuse to participate too, if you so wish."

That triggered a lot of uncertain faces amongst the Slytherins. Nott even seemed to look to Draco, as if to ask his opinion on what he should do. Draco shrugged. It was his own choice, after all. When a few seconds had passed, and no one else had said anything (perhaps because no one wanted to be the first, rather than because they all wanted to participate), Moody announced the matter settled, and began calling the students forward one at a time.

Crabbe ended up clucking like a chicken, whilst Goyle did a tap dance, Davis started singing one of the Sorting Hat's dreadful songs ( _and had she learnt the lyrics, or did the Imperius somehow give them to her?_ ), Parkinson jumped onto a desk (narrowly avoiding flashing the whole class her knickers, considering how short she liked to wear her skirts), and Zabini... did nothing? The boy stood perfectly stiff and still, starring straight at Moody, which presumably was a display of resistance to the curse, unless that was somehow his attempt at "acting like a cat". Draco couldn't be certain though, as the boy kept up his poker face when he returned to his seat. Nott looked upset though, when he went next and undeniably started roaring like a (rubbish impression of a) dragon.

The Gryffindors had their lesson the next day, and Draco's friends had all elected to try fighting the curse. Hermione had lectured Draco on missing important educational opportunities and accused him of being "honestly more paranoid than Professor Moody". _I'm justly paranoid, thank you very much. You all should be a bit more paranoid really! How did you lot survive first time around without me here!?_ He was pleased to hear how Harry had managed to nearly fight the curse off. _Good, if he can develop some resistance to the Imperius, then that's one less thing of many that I need to worry about._


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As seems to be happening a lot this fic, there's quite a lot of direct quotes from the book this chapter.

Time seemed to be passing quickly, and Draco still wasn't sure what his plan was regarding the Goblet of Fire, and ensuring Harry's name didn't end up in it. Part of the problem was, he couldn't remember the exact details surrounding entering. An age-line was definitely involved, but apart from that, Draco wasn't sure. Dumbledore still hadn't given them any extra information yet; probably waiting for when the other schools arrived.

As the day of the visitors' arrival drew near, the school was in more and more of a furor; students excitedly gossiping, teachers tensely instructing them all to smarten up their acts, and the corridors were the cleanest Draco had ever seen them, with portraits de-grimed, and suits of armour gleaming. Whenever Draco saw Filch, he seemed to be sweeping or scrubbing, and not doing a very good job at it ( _how Squibs and Muggles got anything done, Draco didn't know_ ). That was when the man wasn't shouting at students of course. Anyone who dared make a mess in his halls earned themselves a ferocious lecture.

October 30th came around, and in order to await the arrival of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang contingents, they left Potions early (much to the pleasure of Ron and Harry, and relief of Longbottom, as Snape had been planning on making them prepare antidotes, leading the Gryffindors to conclude the Professor would first try to poison them, which Draco doubted. Mainly because he didn't think Snape had enough faith in the brewing abilities of his students, and wouldn't want the agro that would come with one of them dying because they failed to effectively neutralise his poison). Draco found the waiting around rather tiresome. He didn't even have the entertainment the rest had of hypothesizing how the other schools would arrive, having of course seen the flying carriage and sailing ship before. He was glad when they finally turned up, so they could go inside and eat. As he walked in, alongside Zabini and Nott who looked similarly disinterested (which was the default look they liked to project), he could hear Ron excitedly gushing over Krum from a few metres behind him.

To be fair to Ron, as the Durmstrang students sat down at the Slytherin table, Draco could remember gloatedly fawning over Krum last time (pleased the celebrity had chosen to sit with him and not Weasley). This time Draco decided to make a more mature introduction.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. My name is Draco Malfoy," he told Krum, offering him a hand to shake, following up by offering it to the two Durmstrang boys to either side, so as to not look too much like he was only interested in the famous quidditch star. Zabini and Nott also introduced themselves. Crabbe and Goyle didn't say anything, so Draco took pity on them and made introductions on their behalves.

The Beauxbatons students all ended up standing from their seats at the Ravenclaw table as the staff paraded in, joined by Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime. Dumbledore was just starting to make a speech, when the Hall doors opened again, and a slightly out of breath Ludo Bagman and grumpy looking Barty Crouch walked in.

"Dumbledore!" Bagman called out, as he walked down the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, "Sorry to interupt! I hope we aren't too late for the feast? Barty said we should just wait until afterwards, but I said nonsense! It's been far too long since I've had a meal cooked by the fine hands of the Hogwarts House Elves."

"Not at all, gentlemen! Come join us!" Dumbledore replied. He addressed the Hall as a whole.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, ghosts and guests! I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable. The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast, but before we eat, let me first introduce, for those of you who do not know them, Mr Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of Magical Co-operation, and Mr Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. We will be hearing more about their involvement, and their tireless work to make this tournament go ahead later, but in the meantime, I invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!" Whilst Dumbledore was speaking, Filch had got up and procured two more seats from somewhere, shooting dirty looks at Bagman and Crouch (the dirtiest looks he'd ever seen the man make, and that was saying something).

"The moment has come," Dumbledore announced once the feast was over, "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket," ( _what a fucking fantastic word choice. Not like we need more death omens in this situation or anything_ ), "just to clarify the procedure which we will be following this year." He went on to explain how Bagman and Crouch would be joining Dumbledore, Karkaroff and Maxime as judges, and that there would be three tasks that would test the Champions' magical prowess, daring, deduction and fucking heroicness (okay, so Draco made that last bit up, but it followed the pattern of the pseudo-suspensive bullshit Dumbledore was spouting).

Filch brought out the "casket", actually looking vaguely excited for probably the first time in his life when not talking about torturing students ( _probably imagining to himself how many of the little fuckers are going to die or something_ ). Dumbledore waffled on some more, before drawing the Goblet of Fire from its depths. Draco stared at the thing. He had the feeling this fucking inanimate object was going to cause him no end of problems.

Dumbledore gave disappointedly little information about the protections on the cup, just that it was to be placed in the Entrance Hall for 24 hours, with an "Age Line" surrounding it. Draco was so busy thinking about the Goblet, that he almost walked straight past his friends as they left the Hall. Karkaroff and a group of his students had stopped dead, starring, it turned out, at Harry's scar. Harry looked super awkward, but like he was going to do nothing but uncomfortably stand there. Draco took pity on him, walking up to him and nudging his shoulder, as if ignorant to the tension in the air.

"Hey Harry! Who do you reckon is going to be Hogwarts Champion?" Harry looked at Draco, surprised (but still pleased to see him), finally drawing his eyes away from Karkaroff, who was then engaged in a starring contest with Moody, who started trying to chivvy everyone out of the Hall.

"I don't know. I've heard Diggory is going to enter?" his friend answered _. Hey, good guess!_

"Fred and George and going to try and enter," Ron told him.

"Fred and George are too young."

"They're going to try using an Ageing Potion."

"I bet you five Knuts" [Draco would usually say Galleons, but he didn't want to take what little money his friend had] "that that plan ends with at least one of them in the Hospital Wing. Please don't join in their hairbrained scheme. We've made it nearly a whole two months without one of us ending up there. Two months! It's practically a record!"

"You're a bigger worrywart that Hermione!" Ron protested, following it with a cry of pain as the girl in question elbowed him in the side. They'd reached the point where they needed to head off in separate directions to their dorms, so they said goodnight, with Draco extracting one more exasperated promise they wouldn't do any stupid schemes overnight.

However, Draco didn't head back to his dorm. He hid down one of the secret corridors the Marauders' Map had taught him, then watched it until the coast was clear and circled back towards the Entrance Hall. He sat in wait, Disolutioned, behind a statue, where he could watch the cup. He wasn't entirely sure what he was watching it _for_ , but just had the feeling he should, for a while at least. A few older students came back and dropped their names in, and even some younger students tried, and failed to get past the line.

As he waited, Draco wondered to himself whether he'd be able to cross the line. His body wasn't of age, but his mind was. He wasn't an expert in how these things worked, but had the feeling the magic was about more than just physical age. _I wonder if polyjuice would work? If a child drank polyjuice of an adult, could they cross the line?_

After a while, Draco decided to test his curiousity, and after checking the Map to make sure the coast was clear, snuck out from his hiding place and towards the line. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and took a step forwards. He opened his eyes. The fiery cup was right in front of him. _What do you know!? I can cross it!_

He went back to his hiding place, but his mind wasn't done thinking.

_Maybe **I** should enter? _

_What! Where did that thought come from!?_ Draco had just spent the last couple of months trying to stop his friends from entering. _Why would he do a stupid thing like that?_ But the more he thought about it, the more his brain tried to persuade him. _If Harry does get entered, it would be a lot easier to protect him from inside the tournament. You were worried about Diggory, or someone else in his place, getting killed. If it's you, then you know what to expect, and can be prepared. Just because you put your name in, doesn't mean you'll be the Champion anyway. It almost certainly won't be you. Lots of Hogwarts students will have entered._

 _Fuck it._ Draco wrote his name on a piece of parchment out of his pocket. On a last-minute whim he added _[fuck this tournament]_ to the bottom, then tossed it in the cup. There, done.

_Oh fuck, what has he done!?_


	11. Chapter 11

Draco snuck back to his dorm in the early hours of the morning. He would have liked to keep watching the Goblet, but that wasn't really practical. Besides, he needed to be up in time to stop his friends from having any dumb ideas (like the fucking terrible one he'd had).

They were just finishing up their breakfast when Draco arrived at the Great Hall.

"Hey Draco, you missed Fred and George's attempt to enter!" Ron called over to him, between bites of sausage.

"Oh, yeah? What happened?"

"Ron owes you five knuts," Harry replied.

"Oi! I never actually accepted that bet!" the boy protested.

"We're thinking of going to visit Hagrid," Hermione told him. "Do you want to come?"

"Go on then. Just give me 10 minutes to eat something first." _No way was he relying on Hagrid's cooking to feed him._

There were a few students hovering around the Goblet in the Entrance Hall as they walked past. Filch lingered in the corner, glaring at them, seemingly guarding the thing. _Maybe Dumbledore's actually had a good idea for once?_

When they arrived at the Hagrid's hut, Draco nearly choked at the sight of the man wearing the most hideous suit Draco had ever seen (and Draco had seen some fashion disasters over the years), with his hair in bunches. Hermione, seemingly distracted by the whole _... horror show..._ started asking about the fucking Blast-Ended-Screwts, making Draco die inside that bit more. He'd forgotten about those monstrosities. He wouldn't have agreed to come if he'd remembered being in their vicinity was on the table.

Luckily, Hagrid seemed satisfied with hosting the four of them within his cabin, inviting them to stay for lunch ( _thank fuck Draco had taken the opportunity to eat a good breakfast_ ). They spent the time hypothesising about the tournament (and Draco was glad to hear his friends speaking of it in a way that suggested they had no expectation of taking part in it themselves). He didn't mention the fact his own name was in that cup somewhere. The chances of it coming out were tiny. They'd never know about his moment of foolishness.

They headed back up to the Hall for the evening after discovering Hagrid's whole make-over disaster was part of a misguided attempt to woo Madame Maxime. Well, maybe the wooing itself wasn't a bad idea. The giant of a woman ( _quite possibly half-giant of a woman?_ ) was as much of a match for the man as any could be. Just the execution was terrible. _Maybe I should give him some fashion advice sometime?_ Draco paused, his mind suddenly shocked at where his life had ended up. _I'm planning on giving that man **fashion advice.** What the fuck has happened to me?_

Everyone seemed anxious for the feast to be over, and for the announcements to start. Rumours were flying around about who had entered, and there was a tension in the air to find out who would be chosen as Champion.

"Well, the Goblet is almost ready to make its decision," Dumbledore eventually announced. "I estimate that it requires one more minute." Draco almost snorted. _What bullshit. He's making it sound like it's "thinking". It's not like they'll have set it to announce the Champions after a set time has allotted._

After enough ' _tense suspense_ ' time, the flames turned red and sparks began to fly. A gasp crossed the room as the first piece of parchment flew out.

"The Champion for Durmstrang, will be Viktor Krum." _No change there then._ He could hear Ron shouting across the room about how that wasn't surprising. _Must he embarrass himself?_

"The Champion for Beauxbatons, is Fleur Delaclour." _Again, no surprise._ It was the next announcement Draco was nervous about.

"And the Champion for Hogwarts..."

_Yes, who???_

"...is Cedric Diggory." _Oh, well maybe that's for the best._

Draco held his breath, hoping the Goblet was done. Dumbledore had started encouraging the students to all support their Champions. But then, the Goblet's flames turned red again. _The motherfucker wasn't done._ Dumbledore grabbed the piece of parchment that had been ejected, and turned a little pale.

"Draco Malfoy."

_Oh fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck._

_Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck._

_Fuck._

_Well, at least it's not Harry._

_{Hahaha, fuck you}_ thought the Goblet (if it could indeed think). _{I'm not done yet Motherfucker}_.

One final, fifth piece of paper shot out. Dumbledore looked like he might literally pass out. That or throw up into the Goblet (it would serve it right).

"Harry Potter".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Muahahahaha...
> 
> Super short chapter, but thought it worked for the suspense, so I'm sticking with it.
> 
> To be totally honest, until a few days ago, I had zero intention of Draco being in the Tournament. But that's what I like about writing on here. You guys' comments inspire me and give me different ideas. I came to realise I did want Draco in the contest, but didn't want to replace Cedric, so we've ended up with a five-person Triwizard tournament...


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've had a few days off work, so you get another chapter!

After the initial silence following the announcement, came the slowly rising buzzing of people discussing the scandal under their breaths. Harry looked absolutely shell-shocked. If Draco had any doubt before whether Harry had entered himself, he didn't now. _Oh fuck, this was a mess!_ Not only had he failed to save his friend from the debacle, he'd got himself messed up in it and made things a million times worse. People were even less likely to believe Harry hadn't entered himself, if Draco had.

As he walked through the Hall, under the stares of the whole school, he determined to himself the best way to face this was argue back as much as possible, put the blame on others' incompetence, and take the attention off Harry by being as much of a obnoxious prat as possible.

He entered a smaller room off the Hall where the other Champions were already waiting, followed shortly after by Harry.

"What is it?" Delacour asked. "Do zey want us back in ze Hall?" Her question was answered by Bagman, who grabbed a scared-looking Harry's arm and pulled him forward (Draco dodged out of his way himself).

"Absolutely extraordinary! Gentlemen... Lady, may I introduce- incredible though it may seem, the _fourth_ and _fifth_ Triwizard Champions?" Krum looked angry, Diggory looked confused, and Delacour clearly thought he was joking, even complementing him on his joke. Bagman started trying to explain to her that Draco and Harry would be entering, even though they were under the age restriction that had been introduced.

They were joined by Dumbledore, Crouch, Karkaroff, Maxime, McGonagall and Snape, leaving the small room quite crowded.

"Madam Maxime!" Delacour protested at her headmistress, "Zey are saying zat zhese little boys are to compete also!"

"What is ze meaning zis, Dumbly-dorr?" Maxime asked. If it wasn't so tense, Draco might have chuckled at her mangling of the man's name.

"I'd rather like to know that myself, Dumbledore," Karkaroff added. " _Three_ Hogwarts Champions?" The two of them starting trying to argue with Dumbledore about how unfair it was. Snape waded in to Dumbledore's defence.

"It's no one's fault but Potter's, Karkaroff," the man stated. "He has been crossing lines ever since he arrived here, and dragging his friends along with him. I do not doubt it was him who persuaded Malfoy to join him in his foolishness."

"Thank you Severus," Dumbledore interrupted firmly, before turning to Harry and Draco. "Did you put your names into the Goblet of Fire, Harry, Draco?" he asked calmly. Draco replied "yes" as the same time Harry said "no", causing his friend to turn to stare at him.

"You put your names in?" Dumbledore asked Draco, staring at him intensely.

"I put _my_ name in," Draco corrected. "I did not put _Harry's_ name in. Nor, do I think, did Harry."

"Harry, did you ask an older student to put your name in for you?"

" _No._ "

"Ah, but of course 'e is lying!" Maxime exclaimed. "One boy has already admitted it!"

"He could not have crossed the Age Line!" McGonagall exclaimed.

"The Malfoy boy clearly did!" Karkaroff protested.

"Actually, I didn't," Draco replied. He'd settled on the story he was going to spin.

"Explain," Snape demanded.

"I had the feeling something bad was going to happen with the Champion selection, so I thought I'd test out the Age Line."

"How did you get past it?"

" _I_ didn't. My piece of parchment did. I didn't expect it to work. I didn't expect it to go in when I threw it. Hell, you've seen what I wrote on it," [Draco directed that at Dumbledore who nodded with a look of disapproval], "I wasn't actually _trying_ to enter. I was just testing the defences."

"Well, whatever your intention, through your foolishness, you apparently have entered," Snape replied, glaring at him with a look of intense disappointment. If Draco actually cared about the man's approval, he might be upset.

"Mr Crouch, Mr Bagman, you are our- er- objective judges. Surely you will agree this is most irregular?"

"We must follow the rules," Crouch eventually replied, "and the rules state clearly that those people whose names come out of the Goblet of Fire are bound to compete in the Tournament." _Fuck. Well, why am I surprised? They made Potter compete last time after all._ This led to more bickering, as Karkaroff tried to insist that he be allowed to enter two more Champions, then, after being told that wouldn't be possible, threatened to boycott the tournament.

"Look!" Draco exclaimed, causing all eyes to land on him again. "What you all seem to have forgotten about is if Harry didn't enter himself, and I didn't enter him, then who did? I think this was the bad feeling I had, that caused me to mess around with the Goblet in the first place. We all know the tournament is dangerous. I'll accept that I've landed myself in this danger, but Harry didn't! Someone entered him! Someone wanted him in danger! I've already demonstrated that your defences were flawed! Yes, be angry at me for entering. But be angry at yourselves too, for letting this happen. You were all involved in the planning. You all fucked up."

"Malfoy!" McGonagall gasped.

"I'm sorry for the language, professor, but I stand by what I said. And I stand by what I wrote on that piece of parchment."

"What _did_ you write?" Snape asked. Dumbledore passed the piece of parchment to him. "Ah."

"Mister Malfoy, no matter your sentiments on the tournament, I suspect your expressing of them may be the reason why your name came out," Dumbledore stated.

"What?"

"Students were to write their name and their school on their parchments. You did not write Hogwarts on yours. You wrote your protest. Perhaps the Goblet interpreted that as a separate school?" _Interesting._

"What did it say on Harry's?" he asked. Dumbledore produced the parchment. Below Harry's name (written in handwriting Draco didn't recognise, that clearly wasn't Harry's) was just a short line.

"It would have needed an exceptionally strong Confundus Charm to cause the Goblet to forget only three school compete in the tournament," Moody announced. _Where the fuck did he come from?_

"You think there was foul play, Alastor?" McGonagall asked.

"We all know Professor Moody considers the morning wasted if he hasn't discovered six plots to murder him before lunchtime," Karkaroff interjected before the man could reply.

"Well, when there's so many Dark Wizards around, it pays to be vigilant..."

Before wands could be drawn, Dumbledore addressed the room.

"How this situation arose, we do not know. It seems to me, however, that we have no choice to accept it. Viktor, Fleur, Cedric, Harry and Draco have all been chosen to compete in the tournament. This, therefore, they will do..."

"Ah, but Dumbly-dorr..."

"My dear Madame Maxime, if you have an alternative, I would be delighted to hear it." She had no answer to that. "Well, shall we crack on then?" he smirked, rubbing his hands together. _Okay... he got over this whole disaster quickly._

They were given some vague and not very useful information about the first task (not a single mention of dragons) before being sent off to bed. Draco shared a tense look with Harry before McGonagall shuffled his friend away. He wasn't sure what his friend was thinking, whether he believed Draco, and whether he blamed him. Hopefully he hadn't just fucked up their friendship amongst everything else he'd fucked up.

Snape walked Draco back to the Common Room.

"So I hope you're proud of yourself," the man said.

"Not really."

"Well, it's your own stupid fault. You really have been spending too much time with Gryffindors, they've clearly rubbed off on you. Try not to be an embarrassment to your House. And do avoid getting yourself killed, I'm sure it would be a drag on my time that I don't need." On that cheery note, he left him.

There was a large crowd sat in the Common Room awaiting his arrival, and silence fell as he walked in.

"Yes, I am to be a Triwizard Champion. As is Harry Potter. Yes, I know it's ridiculous that there's five contestants in the _Tri_ wizard Tournament. No, I'm not sure how it ended up that there's five Champions; we think it might be to do with yet another vague and complex assassination attempt on Harry. Yes, I did enter myself. I did it to see if I could. No, Harry did not enter himself. No, I didn't enter Harry. No, I don't know who did. I hope that is all your questions answered. If not, then, well, I don't really give a fuck. I am off to bed. Goodnight." There were various questions and comments being shouted at him, but Draco ignored them, making his way through the Common Room to his dorm.

"Well, well, well..." Nott commented. "I didn't expect that."

"I've surprised you?"

"With the extent of your idiocy, maybe."

"You don't think I'm going to win?"

"I think you're probably going to die horribly."

"Thank you for your confidence."

"You're welcome. I'll start writing you a touching eulogy."

The Slytherin reaction was one thing. The rest of the school's would be quite another. Draco didn't really want to face the masses in the Great Hall, but he wanted to see his friends. He'd spent the night worrying about what they would be thinking about him, leaving him tired considering he'd not slept long the previous night either.

He got the Marauders' Map out to see where his friends were. He was surprised to see Ron's name in the Great Hall, but there was no sign of Harry or Hermione. Eventually he located them out by the lake. He headed out to join them.

"Harry, Hermione!" he called out to them. Harry vaguely smiled at him, then went back to looking a bit glum. Hermione looked angry. When he got close, she suddenly reached out and slapped him in the face.

"Ow! Hermione! What the fuck!?" he shouted, drawing his wand.

"I could say the same to you, Draco! What the hell did you think you were doing! I thought you was the sensible one! I thought if anyone was going to go enter themself, it would be Ron or Harry! But not you! Particularly not after you kept saying how bad an idea it was. Why, Draco, why?"

"I don't know. I don't know what I was thinking. I was panicking. I had the feeling something shifty was going to happen with the Goblet, so I thought I'd test it."

"By entering yourself!?"

"Yes,"

"You're an idiot, Draco Malfoy."

"I know."

They stood in silence for a few minutes, then Hermione passed him some toast.

"Here. I guess you're probably hungry. You've not been in the Hall yet today?"

"Thanks. No, I've not."

They continued walking around the lake for a while.

"Where's Ron?" he asked.

"He doesn't believe me," Harry moped. "He thinks we plotted behind his back to enter ourselves, and left him out."

"I'm sorry. It's my fault. I entered myself."

"But you didn't enter me?"

"No! Of course not! I wouldn't have done that! I wouldn't have put you at risk! I think I was worried something like this would happen. That's why I did what I did. Except rather than doing something useful, like stopping whoever it was who entered you, I made everything a million times worse."

"I don't think you could have stopped this. From what Moody was saying, it must have taken a powerful wizard to Confund the Goblet. If it wasn't for them, for someone trying once again to kill me or something, then the Goblet wouldn't have thrown your name out. It's kind of because of me that you're stuck in this mess.

"It is _not_ your fault. Let's get that much clear."

The conversation was then interrupted by the sudden appearance of Dobby.

"Master Draco! Dobby is hearing your parents saying you is in danger!" _Ah fuck, they've heard._

"Don't worry Dobby, I'm sure me and Harry will be fine."

"Harry Potter is in danger?" asked the elf, looking even more worried. _Clearly Harry's still his favourite, even though he's **my** elf._

"We'll be okay, Dobby," his friend tried to reassure the elf, though if he wanted to be convincing, he really should sound more confident.

"Dobby, did you happen to hear what my parents were saying?" _Are they planning on storming the school to destroy the damn Goblet?_

"They is fire-calling Professor Snape." _So he's going to be even more annoyed with me, if he's just gotten an earful._

"I best go and try and speak with them. Thanks for letting me know, Dobby. I'll see you guys later?" They nodded goodbye. Draco had a thought, and turned to add, "Harry, maybe you should write to Sirius and let him know before he hears from someone else?" Harry paled at that, but nodded in agreement.

Draco headed to Snape's office and knocked on the door. Snape at first looked surprised to see him, then just resigned.

"Mr Malfoy. I've already had your parents on the floo this morning, expressing their... _concerns..._ about your entry into the Triwizard Tournament."

"I know." Snape looked surprised. "Dobby told me." Confusion. "My House Elf."

"Ah, yes, of course. Your mother was quite insistent she must speak with you. I explained I wasn't about to track you down, but since you're here, you may as well call her back. You have 30 minutes. Then I expect you out of my office, and after that I don't want to have to deal with anything to do with you and your foolishness for at least a week."

"Yes, Professor."

The floo call began with his mother gushing with worry, and his father looking quietly concerned. For them, Draco spun the story that he intentionally entered on the off chance, and though he's surprised to find himself actually in the competition, he plans to make the most of it.

"It'll be a good chance for some practical magical experience. And with my OWLs coming up next year, it's the perfect time." When his mother argued about the danger, Draco countered that his previous three years of education had hardly been the safest. The look on her face made him think that maybe that wasn't the best argument. But anyway, by the end of the conversation, even though his parents still weren't keen on the idea, they seemed to have accepted Draco was in the Tournament. Sure, maybe he could have riled them up, and tried to get them to find him (and by extension, Harry) a way out of it. If anyone could, his parents would. But he had the feeling they would also fail. No, better to save face, suck it up, and make the best of the situation as it was. He and Harry were in the competition now, for better or worse. He needed to focus his efforts on getting them through it unharmed.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this is another chapter. Been on a bit of a writing binge. Can't promise this rate of updates will continue (almost certainly won't).
> 
> This chapter has ended up being so much dialogue. Hopefully now we've got some exposition out of the way, things will be able to get moving...
> 
> Also, I'm on discord now. https://discord.gg/CtdbxR7wfF . I don't understand how Discord works yet, so the page is pretty boring, but feel free to come join me.

Hermione and Harry were still sat out by the lake when Draco returned.

"You've contacted Sirius? Good. Now, we need to work on our strategy." The pair looked a bit shocked by his sudden determined energy. Harry was still looking rather sorry for himself. "Have you eaten yet? Lunch I mean?"

"No. Do you really want to face the reaction of everyone in the Hall?"

"No. Dobby?" The elf appeared. "Can you fetch us a picnic?"

"Yes, Master Draco!" he replied enthusiastically, before disapparating.

"You really shouldn't boss him around like that..." Hermione complained.

"It's his job."

"Do you pay him?"

"In magic, yes." Hermione looked like she had more to say about that. Draco could see them getting off track. "We need to talk about the Triwizard Tournament right now. Our strategy."

"Strategy?" Harry asked.

"Yes, strategy. Now, hear me out. I suggest we don't try to win the competition."

"But I thought you had to compete?" Hermione questioned.

"We have to compete. But we don't have to win. As long as we turn up and do the tasks, that should satisfy the Goblet. I suggest we paint ourselves as the... _side acts._ The other Champions are the real competition, we're just extras. Showing other ways someone could have entered. Providing extra entertainment. Getting ourselves some practice in. The other schools are clearly going to be fuming at the idea of Hogwarts having three Champions. We frame it that there's not. Diggory is _the_ Hogwarts Champion. We encourage the school to get behind him. Our main focus is getting out of this in one piece. Any experience we gain is a bonus."

"You think that will work?"

"I think it might make people a bit less annoyed at us. And if the other Champions don't see us as competition, they might be more likely to help us out if we get in trouble. Because really, is there any reason for us to want to win, even if that was likely? You're already famous. We're both already rich. No, we're better off just aiming to get through it."

"Okay, yeah, that makes sense." Harry agreed.

"Great. We'll make an announcement in the Hall at dinner."

"At dinner? Is that a good idea?"

"Why not sooner rather than later? Now, onto the next problem. Where's Ron?"

"I think he's with Dean and Seamus. He's not talking to us. Well me. And probably you. I think he's still talking to Hermione. Maybe."

"You need to go talk to him, Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. "As I explained, he's jealous and upset, and feeling left out!"

"No..." Harry started to argue.

"Yes," Draco interrupted. "We need to speak to him and get this whole mess ironed out. I'll go find him."

"How?"

"I have my ways. Wait here. We'll be back in a bit."

According to the Map, Ron was somewhere in Gryffindor Tower. Not the ideal place for Draco to go talk to him, but he'd make it work. He knocked on the portrait that acted as a door. After a short while, the two Weasley twins poked their heads out.

"Ey! Draco! Legend! You've got to tell us how you managed to get past that Age Line!"

"You guys thought too big. I just threw my entry into the Goblet from behind the line."

"Why didn't we think of that?"

"Anyway, can you get your brother for me?" He paused, remembering the problem he'd had previously with those two and that request. Sure, Ron was the only other Weasley brother at Hogwarts now, but that wouldn't necessarily stop them being facetious. "Can you get _Ron_ for me?"

"What if he says he's not here?"

"I know he's in there." He raised his eyebrows and tapped his pocket, hoping they'd understand he was referring to the map. "Tell him I need to speak with him, and if he doesn't come out, I'll break my way in, and maybe put itching powder in his bed whilst I'm there."

"Do you have itching powder? If not, we can put you in touch with a good supplier..."

"Just fetch him, please?"

"Okay, okay, we're going."

Five minutes later, the door reopened and a grumpy looking Ron seemed to be all but thrown out of it.

"What do you want?"

"To talk."

"I don't want to talk to you."

"Too bad. Come on. Let's walk and talk. Now, I hear you're angry with Harry and I."

"I'm angry my two so-called friends went behind my back and betrayed me."

"We didn't. Well, Harry didn't."

"What, so you're admitting you did? That you're a fucking no good backstabbing Slytherin? I was right all along about you, wasn't I?"

"What, you think I've just been pretending to be your friend for the past three years?"

"You've been waiting for the right moment to show your true colours."

"And now is that moment? Please, I'm not a double agent, but if I was, I'd blow my cover for something better than a fucking game."

"What, you think you're better than the Triwizard Tournament? Why did you enter it then?"

"I entered it because I'm an idiot."

"That's one thing we agree on."

"Look, I genuinely thought entering the Tournament was a bad idea. That's why I kept trying to discourage you and Harry from entering it. I wasn't trying to save the glory for myself or something, I swear. I had really skeevy feelings about the whole thing. So I decided to test the Age Line. And in a fucking terrible decision, I kind of accidentally managed to put my name in the Goblet. I didn't say anything because I was embarrassed, and hoping nothing would come of it. Harry had nothing to do with it. He didn't enter his name. Someone else did. I think that was related to the skeevy feeling I had. Someone's trying to kill him again.

And I know, it sucks. You actually wanted to enter the competition, and now Harry and I are in it. But we're the suckers here, not you. Everyone probably hates us. Please don't hate us too. Or, well, if you have to be mad at someone, be mad at me. I fucked up. I admit it. None of this is Harry's fault, don't be mad at him." He paused, looking at his friend, who didn't say anything, just standing there in angry silence.

"Please, think about forgiving me at least. I don't want to die in an inter-school death tournament with my friend hating me. Well, I don't want to die in an inter-school death tournament at all..."

"What did you say?" Ron interrupted suddenly.

"What? I don't want to die in an inter-school death tournament with my..."

"That!"

"What?"

"You've said something like that before!"

"Yes, you just asked me to repeat it..."

"No, before before. Like last year or sometime. I've heard you say that phrase before, or something similar..." He paused to think. "It was in Divination! You made a prediction! Something about Harry being in an inter-school death tournament! Are you psychic? Did you see this coming." _Oh fuck._

"I'm not psychic!"

"What do you call that then?"

"A lucky guess? You know how much bullshit we make up in Divination. I guess it's just probability that one of them comes vaguely true." He paused to think. He could spin this. "But I guess maybe that explains my weird feeling? Damn, I wish I remembered I'd made that prediction before I went investigating and landed myself in shit."

By this point they were almost out at the lake. He could see Harry and Hermione were sat down now. _Of course, the picnic. I'd forgotten about that._

"Come sit with us."

"No..." Ron started.

"We have food..."

"Fine. But I'm still angry with you."

"That's okay."

Ron clearly was still grumpy, not saying much at all for most of the afternoon, until Draco brought up the idea of doing a speech at dinner again.

"You're not going to try and win?"

"No, we're going to try and _survive_."

"But you're already in the competition, you might as well try and win."

"We didn't want to enter. We shouldn't be in the competition. The competition will work best if it's able to run as close to how it was meant to as possible. People will be happier if they don't see us as ruining the competition."

"You're pandering to people?"

"We're trying to please people where we can. It's important that Harry doesn't alienate himself with the rest of the school. It's important that he develops international relations, not enemies. A day will come that he needs allies. We need to plan ahead."

"You always have an agenda, don't you? I wouldn't be surprised if this is all still part of some plot of yours."

"It's not. I'm just trying to make the best of a bad situation."

Everyone turned to look at them as they walked into the Great Hall. The place was pretty full. Not the whole school was there, but with Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students padding out the numbers, there was still a fair crowd. Even though he was scowling, Draco was glad Ron was with them. It was important they looked like a united front. If their best friend didn't believe them, then why should anyone else? Draco cast Sonorus.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen." He paused, allowing anyone who wasn't already paying attention to them to stop and listen. "You all will already know that Harry and I have been selected as extra contestants in the Triwizard Tournament. You may be confused about that. You may be angry about that. How is there more than one Hogwarts Champion? Well, there's not. Cedric Diggory is the Hogwarts Champion. He was chosen by the Goblet of Fire to represent Hogwarts. Harry and I are Champions of non-existent schools, of flaws in the Goblet, thought to have been brought about a mystery nefarious interferer. We have no choice to compete in the tournament. But we wish to make it clear, we are not Champions. We want you give your support to Cedric, to Fleur and to Viktor. They are your Champions. They will be competing to win. We... just want to get through the tasks. We just want to gain what experience we can, make the most of the situation we find ourselves in. But we don't want to win. It wouldn't be fair. We're not meant to be in the competition. Plus we have no delusions that we actually could win. We're far less experienced than the other champions. We wish them the best of luck, and look forwards to seeing them compete. We'll just have a more... close up view than the rest of you. I'll leave you all to enjoy your dinners. Thank you for listening."

Draco waited tensely to see what the reaction was. A couple of people made a vague applause. A lot of people looked suspicious. The noise of chatter started to slowly build up. Draco didn't hear any booing at least. _Well, that could have gone worse._ He bade goodbye to his friends and headed over to the Slytherin table.

"So have you gone chicken now?" Warrington asked (probably salty that he hadn't been selected as a Champion himself). "Realised you've bitten off more than you can chew?"

"Or is this a ploy to trick the others into underestimating you, so you can sail in and steal the Cup out from under them?" Nott suggested.

"It was the truth. We're better off standing back, letting the competition run its course, whilst getting some great hands-on magic experience, rather than throwing ourselves in, making a fool of ourselves, and probably getting ourselves killed. Plus, why piss everyone off for no reason?"

"Ew. How awfully Hufflepuff," Parkinson commented, "pandering to the masses."

"You mean working our public image, dear Pansy? I think that's Slytherin. Of course, in order to do that, you'd need to have one in the first place." _Ouch, she's going to get me back for that one..._

As Draco went to bed (early for once, to catch up on his missed sleep from the past few days), he thought to himself about his day. _Well, that went better than I thought. Done some damage control, got Ron out of a huff, and come up with a strategy for the damn tournament._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, the convo on the Slytherin table at the end has been edited. Originally Flint was there, but as Caris pointed out, he definitely should have graduated by this point (even if he repeated a year)


	14. Chapter 14

There seemed to be a mixed reaction to Harry and Draco across the next few days. There were definitely some cold shoulders and whispering just out of earshot, but no down-right hostility. Draco would take that. He had to admit, he probably contributed to the animosity towards Harry last time, with the "Potter Stinks" badges he'd ordered _(I really was a melodramatic little shit, wasn't I?)_

The damn tournament ended up interrupting another Potions class, this time just for Harry and Draco, as the Creevey kid came to collect them for what sounded like a press conference. _Urgh._

Rita Skeeter ended up trying to snatch Harry almost as soon as they arrived for an interview to "add a little colour" to her article on the tournament. _Ah fuck. That bitch is going to find some shit to stir._

"Actually, if you don't mind, Ms Skeeter, could I have a word?" he asked. "I'm sure I could give you a couple of quotes for your article."

"Yes, certainly, Mr Malfoy." She looked mildly peeved by the interruption to her plans, but determined to make the best of it. She ended up shoving Draco into a broom closet. _How inappropriate._

"Now, Draco..." she began once they were seated as comfortably as they were going to get, precariously balancing on buckets and boxes.

"Ms Skeeter," Draco replied. He dropped his 'nice guy' smile and swapped it for 'not to be messed with' (a look he'd modelled off his mother's). "I know you're out to write whatever will sell papers. After all, we all have to earn galleons. Well, most of you." He paused, trying to look as smug about his hereditary wealth as possible. "That's fair enough. But hear this. If I find you writing slander about me or my friends, I will squash you like a fly." He made full eye contact, to make clear she understood the point he was making, and that he knew all about her illegal animagus form.

"Now, for the quote I promised you," he continued in a much lighter tone. "This tournament is a farce. I am not a Champion. I do not plan to try and take victory from those who are. I plan to make the best of the situation I find myself in, take the opportunity to get some hands-on magical experience, and hopefully foster some international relations." With that, he unfolded himself from his perch and marched out of the door (to be honest, it could have looked more elegant, but he hoped he'd kept enough poise to not look ridiculous.

When he returned to the room with the other champions, there wasn't time for her to interview Harry. _Even better._ They started with the Wand Weighing (which was basically just Ollivander having a glance at each of their wands). Harry "subtly" started trying to polish his and nearly ended up setting the room on fire (Draco had had some success trying to civilise the boy over the years, but clearly he still had work to do). His friend went pale when Ollivander spoke of remembering selling him the wand, and looked relieved when the man didn't say anything else. _I get the feeling there's a story there that I don't know..._

"Mr Malfoy," Ollivander called him forward. "Yew and centaur hair, am I correct?" Draco all but choked. He'd not really been listening when Ollivander had originally told him his wand core (too distracted by not being chosen by his original wand). _Fucking centaurs again._ The man declared his wand in good repair, produced flurry of snowfall from it, and gave it back, without commenting on Draco's apparent surprise at his own wand core.

After the Wand Weighing, they had a photoshoot that seemed to take absolutely forever. It was dinner time by the time it was done.

They spent the evening in the Room of Requirement practicing summoning charms, because apparently Harry had struggled with them in class. It seemed weird to Draco not being able to cast them, having been doing so for years; actually he'd probably learnt in his original fourth year. They were really useful spells, a fact he kept pointing out to Harry to try to motivate him to keep practicing.

Rita Skeeter's article about the tournament came out, and was all _technically_ true. She had made use of Draco quote about the tournament being a farce, and made some conjecture about how Draco and Harry had found themselves in it (there was definitely some implication they'd had a hand in it, but nothing was outright stated). Most of the space was filled with a large picture of Harry (clearly she knows who sells papers), but there was a smaller picture of all the champions.

As the first task drew nearer, Harry seemed to be getting more and more nervous. Draco needed to come up with a plan to "find out" about the dragons. One evening when he was checking the Marauders' Map, he happened to spot a small crowd of names within a clearing in the Forbidden Forest. _Was that where they were keeping the dragons?_ Amongst the names, he spotted Charlie Weasley. _He's the dragon keeper, right?_ Now he knew where the dragons (probably) were, he just needed to "bump into" them. Time for another trip to visit the centaurs.

He went on a Saturday morning, whilst his friends (or at least Harry and Ron, if not Hermione) were probably still having a lie-in. He'd wondered about inviting them, but he wanted a quick chat with the centaurs, without them revealing anything weird about him to his friends. However, his plans for a lone walk were interrupted when, just into the forest, he heard a cheery voice calling his name. He glanced around, to spot Luna Lovegood waving at him.

"Luna! What are you doing here? You shouldn't be walking around the forest on your own!"

"I like coming to see the creatures. What brings you here this morning?"

"I'm off to see the centaurs." _Why lie?_

"Oh. I like the centaurs. They're very knowledgeable. Do you mind if I come too?" Draco had been planning on going alone, but he had the feeling he might as well just agree. Lovegood was weird enough that if the centaurs said anything about him, he had the feeling it could play it off.

"Sure. Why not?"

"Hi Estevan! Hi Bane! Hi Raoul!" Lovegood greeted the three centaurs they met on entering their territory.

"What are you two doing here?" asked one (which Draco thought was probably Bane). "If you're here to ask for our help with your silly wizard games, forget it." That statement was particularly directed at Draco. _I guess they've heard then._ "Dumbledore might have somehow persuaded the merfolk to get involved, but we're not. We're tolerating them keeping those dragons in the forest. Is that not enough?"

"Dragons?" Luna asked, sounding intrigued.

"Yes," Estevan replied, "I guess theoretically we shouldn't have told you that." He smiled at Draco in a way that suggested he suspected Draco already knew about the dragons. He turned back towards Luna. "Now, I know you like visiting creatures, and seeing the best in them, but you should be careful around dragons. You both should be more careful in general. What _does_ bring you here?"

"Eh. We just came for a catch-up," Draco shrugged.

"Why?" Bane asked, suspicious.

"Because for some reason, centaurs seemed to be linked to my life. My patronus is a centaur, I just found out my wand has a centaur hair core. It just seems right that I maintain a civil relationship with the centaurs."

"Your wand has a centaur hair core!? No self-respecting centaur would give their hair for wizards to use for their magic!"

"Maybe not. Or maybe their reasons are their own," the old grey centaur suddenly interrupted. None of them seemed to have noticed him arriving.

"It's your hair?" Draco asked.

"That I don't know. But it could be. Once, a long time ago, I did give Ollivander one of my hairs. It would be nice to know it is being put to good use."

There was silence for a while. Draco wasn't sure what to say in reply.

"Shall I escort you two to where they're keeping the dragons?" Estevan suggested after a while. "I get the sense you're going to go anyway, and at least then you might not get eaten by an acromantula on the way."

"Why should we care if they get eaten?" Bane asked.

"Well, for a start, if students go missing in the forest, then there will be a whole load of wizards traipsing through it looking for them," Raoul argued. _Practical._ "Why not avoid that farce?"

So Estevan walked with Draco and Luna to the dragon enclosure. Luna and Estevan discussed all the creatures of the forest on the way (it appeared Luna did this often). When they arrived, Draco could see two dragons within the enclosure, and a crate that presumably contained a third.

"Draco, Luna? What are you doing here?" a voice called out. Draco turned round to see Charlie Weasley stood by the enclosure with a wand out (it looked like he was about to help get the dragon out of the crate).

"I'll take my leave," Estevan told them, before striding off.

"We came to chat with the centaurs," Luna told Weasley before Draco could get an answer out. "They mentioned the dragons so we thought we should go see them."

"You really shouldn't be wandering the forest alone," he admonished. "And you really shouldn't know about the dragons."

"Are you claiming you never went wandering in the forest?" Charlie made a face as if to say 'it's not about me'. "Plus wouldn't you rather I ruined the surprise, rather than me and Harry getting melted by dragons."

"Oh, Merlin. Don't go getting melted. I haven't told mum about the dragons. She's worried enough about how you two have ended up in the tournament as it is."

"We'll be fine."

"You'd better be."

"So, is it just me, or are there only three dragons here? Please don't tell me you've lost two?"

"No, the other two are on their way. We had to find two new ones thanks to you surprise entries. Now, I'm not telling you any more. Get out of here you two."

"Okay, okay. Bye."

"Bye Charlie! Bye dragons!" Luna added

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to re-read bits of my earlier fics for this chapter to check what I had actually written


End file.
